The Case of Robert Jacks
by VVizrrd
Summary: Nick and Judy have been partners for a few weeks, closed several cases, swapped many jokes, and got involved in a particularly nasty incident involving a marmot (but we don't talk about that sort of thing here). Today, though, Chief Bogo has called them in to share a case brought to him by a P.I., and Nick is head-over-heels right from the start. [My first fanfic; not a WildeHopps]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Introductions of Nelle Vox, Private Investigator

* * *

"What did you do, Carrots?" the red fox asked, his voice just over a whisper.

"Me?" the rabbit objected, looking up at her partner in mock disdain. "I'm completely innocent, it has to be something you did."

"Nine times out of ten, I'd agree with that, but I've done nothing wrong in at least three days… Two and a half…ish. And I already got told off for… Well, you know." It was probably better for the both of them that they didn't bring _that_ up again. It had taken the poor marmot almost an hour to get clean.

Nick looked to Judy; Judy looked to Nick. Both seemed to be completely at a loss as to what this was about. The morning meeting had gone as usual, with Chief Bogo mentioning a few minor events and passing them off because, for the most part, they didn't really seem worth bringing up- other than Officer Fangmeyer's birthday. He'd handed out case files, going through all the larger predators, until only Nick and Judy were left in the room. He didn't have a file for them. Instead, just before leaving, he looked to them and said, "Hopps, Wilde, my office in ten minutes. _Don't_ be late."

That had been thirteen minutes ago.

They'd left the meeting room right away, Judy had gone to her desk and Nick had quickly used the bathroom before meeting back up outside Chief Bogo's door. They'd been waiting there together for the past eight minutes, and the suspense was killing them. They could hear Chief Bogo inside, talking to someone. His voice really carried; the other didn't. Nick leaned over and whispered again, "Hear anything… Not coming from a buffalo?"

"Maybe… Very faint. Small mammal, feminine."

"None of the officers," Nick mused quietly. The only small, feminine mammal on the force was standing next to him. "Did our ten minutes get pushed back?"

Judy just shrugged.

For another five minutes, the pair stood there, not sure if they should knock, or wait at their desks to be called in. When they thought about it, neither seemed like that great an idea, so they waited.

Until the Chief's voice called out, "Hopps, Wilde, get in here."

Sharing one last nervous glance, Nick reached up to turn the handle- which was, of course, a few inches above his head- and pulled the door open. Judy went in, and followed.

"Close the door, Wilde," Chief Bogo instructed before Nick had even had a chance to look at their guest. "Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde, allow me to introduce Ms. Nelle Vox, a… 'Private investigator'." There was very clear disdain in his voice as he uttered the title.

Judy looked at their guest with some minor intrigue; Nick, however, once he'd got the door closed, turned, and froze. Seated in a small-mammal sized desk chair in the corner of the room sat probably the most stunning vixen he'd ever laid eyes on. Tall, slender, sparkling blue eyes, an arctic fox with pure, shimmering white hair. Even the dark gray pantsuit she wore did little to detract from the image. If anything, it added an extra air of class.

"I, uh, I… Hi," Nick stammered out. He'd been caught completely off guard, and this was a situation he honestly had never prepared for. "I'm Nick- _ouch!_ "

He was cut off rather abruptly when Judy stepped on his foot- rather discreetly, leaving Chief Bogo slightly confused by the abrupt cry. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Vox, I'm Officer Hopps," the bunny greeted with a kind and cheerful smile, offering a hand. "And this is my partner, _Officer_ Wilde." It wasn't the first time she'd had to remind him that while he was in uniform, he had to act the part.

An amused little smirk on her face, the vixen reached out and shook Judy's hand. "Aren't you cute?" she murmured, to which the rabbit bristled. Miss Vox turned to the buffalo, and requested, "Please fill your officers in on the situation, Chief," then took her leave.

Taking a deep, restrained breath, Chief Bogo rubbed his brow, then looked down on his smallest team and proceeded to fill them in. "Miss Vox here has come to us requesting police assistance in her investigation regarding the disappearance of one Mister Robert Jacks, a journalist for Zootopia Times. Last confirmed sighting of him was three weeks ago, by his boss. Miss Vox can fill you in on the minor details, and you can get the official case file from Clawhauser."

Judy looked to Nick, who shrugged and stepped out, and she heard his footsteps proceed to Clawhauser's desk. Then she up to the Chief and cleared her throat. "Ah, forgive me if I'm overstepping here, Chief, but… Don't you usually _not_ work with P.I.s? I thought it went against your principles to let someone go around digging into crimes without a badge?"

"It does, Hopps. Don't get me wrong, I'd like nothing more than to take this case from her and send her packing. Unfortunately, that decision is… _above_ my pay grade. I've been given specific instruction by Mayor Cuga to cooperate with any case Miss Vox brings to me. Now might I say it is very _reluctantly_ that I've decided to give you this case, and only because of your past experience with missing mammals. Now, I want this cleared up quick and clean. I'm counting on you to keep Wilde in line on this one. We do _not_ need a repeat of the marmot incident."

"Don't mention it, Chief… Please. For both our sake."

* * *

Nick did go to Clawhauser's desk, but only because he saw Miss Vox stepping away from it. Trying for at least some pretense of actual police work, he went to get the cheetah's attention.

"Nick!" Clawhauser greeted. "Good to see you!"

"I was here yesterday, Ben. Hey, could you get that Robert Jacks file ready for me? I'll be right back."

"Can do, Nick," Clawhauser answered, but the fox was already heading for the door.

"Miss Vox!" he called down the stairs leading up to the front of the station. The vixen, already at the bottom, turned and looked up at him.

"Can I help you, Officer Wilde? I was planning to call in when I found something I needed assistance with."

"Well, uh… I…" He paused, realizing he hadn't actually thought of a reason for coming down to catch up to her. He'd have to be quick on his feet with this one. "I was just thinking we could open up the case file and see if we could work out where to start looking… Nelle, is it? Is that short for something?"

"It is, actually! How observant of you!" the vixen exclaimed in a very patronizing tone. "But for now, you can call me Miss Vox."

"Ouch! Denial with a surname, so cold," Nick remarked, pressing a hand over his chest in mock-pain.

The arctic fox rolled her eyes and said, "You'll live. Stare at the sun for a few hours, it should thaw you out."

' _This one's gonna be fun.'_ Among other species, this would be seen as pretty clear rejection. Foxes were peculiar, though. From what he could tell, this was a challenge. _Try harder._

"How about 'Snowflake?'"

"Eat me."

"I'd love to, but at least let me buy you dinner first."

 _Gotcha._ That one definitely hit home. White cheeks flushed with color, and it took her a few moments to stammer out a response. "I… Have a rule about dating cops," she remarked once she'd managed to collect herself.

"I have a rule about eating bananas after 10, but that never stops me."

His immediate, witty response pulled genuine laughter from her lips, before she could bring a paw up to stifle it. "Then it's not really a rule, is it?" She paused, then pulled out a note pad and wrote something down really quick before handing it to Nick. It was an address in Tundratown. "Wait, is this… Your place?"

"No, Red," she replied, rolling her eyes again. "It's Robert Jacks' apartment. I was gonna go check it out after lunch. Turns out I could use a couple extra eyes on it. 12:30, bring the bunny."

Nick fixed her with his most charming smile and said, "You can count on me, Miss Vox."

"I've changed my mind. You can call me Nelle." The vixen gave him a wink, then turned and hailed a cab.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Arctic Suite Apartments

* * *

"This the place?" Judy asked as the patrol car pulled up in front of the tall, elegant building right in the middle of Tundratown's uptown district. "You sure he's a journalist?"

"That's what Nelle said…" Nick murmured, looking between the paper and the number above the large double-doors as if he had to check three times to confirm the address. He also cross-referenced with the case file just to make absolutely sure they had the right place.

"Nelle, huh? First-name basis already?"

Nick was leaning out the passenger side window, staring straight up to try and see how tall the Arctic Suite Apartments building actually was. Didn't a certain shrew have a penthouse up there? When Judy cleared her throat, he looked back in and realized she'd asked him a question. "Huh? Oh, uh… Yeah. What of it, Carrots?"

"Like a book, Slick," the bunny remarked coyly as she turned off the engine and hopped down from the driver seat.

The arctic fox was already there, leaning against the wall by the door. A slight smile curved at the corners of her mouth as the officers climbed up the stairs, and she checked her watch. "12:28. Clever _and_ punctual."

"Not bad for leaving the precinct at 12:10, huh?" Nick remarked.

Nelle crossed her arms, brow cocked in interest. "It's a twenty-five-minute drive."

"Not when Judy's driving."

In the lobby, Judy went up to the receptionist and held up her badge, standing on her toes and reaching up so it cleared the counter. The smartly-dressed caribou looked down at it through disinterested eyes. "Can I help you, officer?

"Yes," the bunny replied. "I'm Officer Hopps, this is Officer Wilde, and our consultant, we need to have a look at Robert Jacks' room, please."

The bored caribou leaned over the counter to get a look at Judy, holding up her badge and smiling brightly. Then he looked at Nick with the same lack of interest. But when he looked at Nelle, Nick was sure he noticed a spark of recognition. "Welcome back, Miss Vox, I'll let you up. Wait for the key." Slowly, he stood up from his chair and stepped into the small room behind him, ducking so his antlers didn't hit the door frame. After a few minutes, he came back and handed a key to Judy, then sat down and pressed a button on the panel before him. With a single _'ding'_ and a soft hum, the elevator door opened. "Fifth floor. Lock up on your way out."

The three went across the lobby and stepped into the large elevator, all together barely taking one small corner of the standing room. The doors closed, and almost silently, they started to climb. "Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that caribou knew you," Nick addressed the vixen as the indicator lights above the door changed.

"What are you talking about, Nick?" Judy cut in. "I didn't see anything."

"You weren't looking for it, Carrots. Foxes are watchers; we use our eyes like you use your ears. How about it, Snowflake?"

Nelle bristled slightly at the nickname, but admitted, "I've… Been here, once or twice. I have some wealthy clients."

"So he knows you're a P.I., then. Doesn't that usually mean calling up to confirm a meeting?"

"I know what you're thinking, Red. Trust me, I could _not_ afford a room here on my salary," Nelle stated with a dry chuckle.

 _Maybe not, but easy access to the classiest place in Tundratown_ and _the mayor advocates her to Chief Bogo… There's some connections there._

Nick looked to Judy, and could see the gears turning behind those big bunny eyes. She was wondering all the same things he was.

With another ding and another soft hum, the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor. The hall had a low ceiling, and it was quickly evident that the floors here were organized by relative size of the mammals in residence. Rabbits and foxes could both be comfortable here. The trio walked out; those who hadn't been here before had to take a minute. If the entrance and lobby seemed elegant, the hall was just plain rich. Plush carpet gave way under their feet; soft, recessed lighting lined the ceiling every ten feet or so, just right to be comfortable for diurnal and nocturnal animals alike; the doors were handcrafted mahogany; the walls were lined with potted orchids in front of perfectly polished mirrors. They were real orchids, too. Nick could smell them.

"Room 517, down the hall to the left," Nelle stated, snapping the other two out of their silent stupor. The red fox blinked, then gave a nod and followed the vixen down the hall. Judy took up the rear, big violet eyes still taking everything in as they made their way down the hall.

"So, a private investigator who caters to Zootopia's elite can't afford to stay here, how can a small-time journalist writing page-eight articles get in here?" Nick asked as they turned the corner.

"His dad's money, I presume. He's a branch manager for a big-time bank. Just a few steps down from the CEO. Robert is the first son of Martin Jacks, and it would seem the father still provides for the son's needs, even if he's unhappy with Robert's career choice."

Martin Jacks was a name Nick had heard before. He'd been in the paper a few times. In addition to running the biggest bank in Tundratown, he owned several properties of his own, including two exclusive apartment blocks in the Rainforest district, four restaurants throughout the city, and a casino in Sahara Square. More importantly, though, the name brought another, bigger name to mind, and made him look at Nelle with a new curiosity.

"Here we are," the arctic fox stated when they reached room 517. She put the key in the door, and they walked in. _Nice place,_ Nick thought, stepping through into the living room. After he'd got his first salary check from ZPD, he'd got himself a nice little place to stay. It wasn't much, but it was something he hadn't had in years; a home. Going off that, he'd actually expected Robert Jacks' apartment to be a lot more extravagant than it was. Sure, it was big- about twice as big as Nick's apartment, but considering Nick was a fox and Robert was a snowshoe hare, there was about four times the amount of relative space here.

But the decoration wasn't nearly as opulent as in the hall. It had the plush carpet, fancy wallpaper and recessed lighting shared by the rest of the building, as well as hardwood floors in the kitchen and bathroom and marble countertops, with mahogany cabinets to match the door. The actual furnishings, though, were much more conservative. A simple plush sectional sofa in the living room, with a 24" flatscreen. Large for a rabbit, but not excessive. It was turned on and muted, showing a news clip of a female puma in a suit. A rerun of their new Mayor Cuga's acceptance speech, following her election two weeks ago. _Let's hope we finally got a good one._ A six-seat oak dining table, scattered with papers with only one spot left clear, presumably where Jacks ate his meals. A queen-bunny bed with a three-drawer oak dresser. Considering the wealth people needed to live here, this all actually wasn't much.

Judy, however, was floored. From the moment the door opened, she was rushing from one corner of the apartment to the other, practically bouncing off the walls as she went from room to room, climbing on the counters to look in the high cabinets. Standing in front of the sink, she looked to the two foxes and exclaimed, "Nick, this _kitchen_ is bigger than my apartment!"

"I've seen your apartment, Fluff, I know. That's not saying much. Mr. Big has a desk that wouldn't fit in your apartment, and he's a shrew." He grinned, and Nelle went over, patting the abashed bunny on the head.

"It's okay, Judy. You're more than welcome to be excited. I think it's cute."

Bristling again, Judy asked, "Could you not call me cute?"

"Only when you stop _being_ cute, Hopps," the vixen replied with a smirk, then stood up straight. "I'll take the bedroom, see if there's any leads in there. Judy, since you like the kitchen so much, you can check out that and the living room. Nick, see if there's anything worth note in that pile," she instructed, pointing toward the dining room table.

"On it, Snowflake." He grinned at the way the vixen rolled her eyes, and made his way over to the table to start sifting through the papers. Cut-outs of old news articles, notes for future ones… He took a few minutes to look those over. _Small-time stuff, nothing to disappear over…_ Print-outs of recipes found online. A calendar for… Three months ago. No help there. _Wait, maybe…_ He moved around the table, moved a couple papers, dug down and… Receipts. _Hello._

"Think I got something," he remarked. He did a quick cross-reference with the calendar and isolated the relevant receipts, just as the other two converged on his position. "Dining receipts," he stated, holding up a few slips of paper.

"And?" Nelle didn't sound impressed. _Just wait._ Judy seemed to get the idea, though, because her eyes were quickly scanning over the calendar.

"Want more, Snowflake?" Nick gave a mischievous grin. He took the stack of receipts and laid them out in a row, then pointed out a few notes on the calendar. "Saturday the 2nd… The 16th… And the 30th. Here…" He pointed out a few receipts from the middle, then pointed out the dates going back to the oldest, then the most recent. "For at least the last five months, he's had a table reserved at Cicero's every other Saturday at 7:30, just like clockwork." Nick pointed to the last receipt. "He was there six weeks ago, then stopped. Cicero's is one of the nicest places in the city, you don't book a table there twice a month for nothing. And if the receipts are any indication, he missed his last reservation four weeks ago, _before_ he went missing."

"Nick, that's brilliant!" Nelle exclaimed suddenly, throwing her arms around the red fox's neck. Nick froze, and Judy stared, both of them caught completely by surprise at the vixen's burst of emotion. After a few seconds, Nelle seemed to realize it, too, and stepped beck, looking at the floor, the tips of her ears and tail going bright red. "I mean, ah, I…" Quickly, she picked up the receipts and the calendar and moved toward the door. "I'm gonna go home and see if I can figure anything out. I'll be in touch." And with that, she shut the door and left Nick and Judy to stare at each other in shocked confusion.

* * *

Once he got back to his apartment, Nick set the oven to preheat, and went to run a bath. While the tub filled, he turned on the TV.

" _-National Bank's Chairman, has declared public intent to make a sizable donation to 'Shared Homes for Adolescent Mammals', a charitable organization seeking to provide shelter to orphaned-"_

The oven beeped twice, indicating it had reached its set temperature. He pulled a spinach-and-artichoke pizza out of the freezer, opened it up and put it on the rack, then set the timer and proceeded to the bathroom to turn off the water and soak in the tub. It had been a long day, most of it spent in the snow.

A while later, the oven beeped four times, the very convenient one-minute warning function. With a contented sigh, he climbed out of the tub, shook off most of the water in his fur, and wrapped a towel around his waist, then made his way out to the kitchen just as the timer started going off. He stopped that, turned off the oven, and pulled out his pizza. Half of it went on his plate, the other half went into the fridge for breakfast. He sat on the sofa, and watched the evening news.

At 8:38, his phone started to ring. He didn't recognize the number. _Accept._ "Hello?"

" _Nick, hi. It's Nelle._ "

He couldn't keep from grinning. "Snowflake!" He cheered into the mic.

" _If you insist._ " He could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Hey, not that I mind, but how'd you get my number?"

" _Chief Bogo. He gave me yours and Hopps' when he agreed to put you on the case._ "

"That makes sense. So what's up, Snowflake?"

" _Glad you asked. I've got an idea. You and me are going undercover._ "

"Sounds good. When and where?"

" _Tomorrow, 7:30, Cicero's._ "

 _Smooth, Snowflake. Very smooth._ "Don't they have a five-day waiting list? How'd you swing that?"

" _I have my ways._ " Nick suppressed a shiver at her mischievous tone.

"Thought you had a rule about dating cops?"

" _I do, but thanks to a rather distracting comment about bananas, I didn't really get a chance to explain the details of that rule._ "

"Remind me to kick myself later. What's the rule?"

" _They have to be really, really cute. See you tomorrow, Red._ "

Call ended. Nick was left to eat his pizza and try to calm his racing thoughts. 

[Chapter 2, done. Hope you guys like it! Things are progressing exactly the way I've planned them out. You can't say that about every short story. Sometimes you make a plan, but can't find out how to get it there, and end up having to change course... So far, this is going good. P.s., there's a bit of satire involved in the name of the charitable organization mentioned in the news report. See if you can catch it. ;) ]


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A New Suit

* * *

"Come on, Carrots, you've gotta know _something_!"

" _And what exactly do you expect me to know about fine dining, Slick?_ " the rabbit's sarcastic reply came over the phone.

"I don't know, come on, don't you ever get… Invited out?"

" _Not really._ "

"Well, you should. You'd be a catch."

" _Well, thanks for that, but I still can't help you._ "

"Are you absolutely sure you don't know where I can get a suit?"

" _Come on, really? Think about it. You're going to Cicero's, a place with a waiting list a mile long that'll turn you down if your_ shoes _aren't shiny enough, and your first thought is to ask a police officer from a carrot farm in Bunnyburrow where to get a suit._ "

…

" _Hello? Nick? Earth to fox, come in fox._ "

"… I hate how much sense you make sometimes."

" _You know you love me._ "

"Do I know that, Carrots?"

He waited until he could hear her foot thumping impatiently in the background.

"Yes, yes I do. See you on Monday."

He hung up, let out a frustrated groan and sank back into the sofa. His phone showed 8:54 PM. It hadn't taken him very long after Nelle's call to realize he'd need more than a floral shirt and loose tie. Judy was usually his go-to when he needed help or advice, but realistically, he had to consider that wasn't exactly optimal for this. _Maybe…_

He quickly punched in another number and hit 'call'.

 _Ring ring… Ring ring…_

" _Who is this?_ " came a deep voice from the other line.

"Don't pretend you don't recognize my number, Finnick." The small fox had always kept his phone's address book empty, but had memorized Nick's number years ago.

" _What you want, Nick? I was almost asleep._ "

"I need a suit."

" _What for?_ "

"Dinner at Cicero's."

" _Ain't your pops a tailor?_ "

 _Click._

 _Thanks, Finn…_ That was the one option he'd been hoping to avoid.

* * *

 _ **5 years ago**_

"You don't have to do that, Nicky," John Wilde said for the third time that night.

"I know I don't, but I want to." Nick was holding out an envelope with all the extra money he'd made over the last three months- everything that hadn't gone to Finnick or been used to buy dinner.

"I'm running a successful business here, have been for years. We don't need the help."

"Dad, I earned this for you, so you wouldn't have to work so hard, so mom could stay at home more, enjoy her garden rather than sell it."

"I understand that, Nick. I do. But I _like_ my job. Your mother likes selling her flowers. We make Zootopia a nicer place. It's what we're good at. Your… scams are what you're good at. We're not going to stop you, you've got a gift for it, you're full of charisma. But keep your money, son, we don't _need_ it."

"I don't need it either, I've got what I need."

"But-"

"I have extra, I want to give it to you."

"Really, Nick-"

"Just take it, dad,"

" _I don't want your money, Nick!_ " the elder fox shouted, finally losing his temper.

For a moment, both foxes stood frozen, Nick's eyes wide with shock, John's brow furrowed with anger, paws clenched, breathing deep. Nick didn't know what to say; his father had _never_ yelled at him like that before.

"…Okay… I get it," the younger Wilde broke the silence. Eyes downcast, he turned and went to the door, closing it forcefully on his way out.

John Wilde's head hung in shame, a few silent tears trailing down his snout. "I just want… My son…" he whispered softly to no-one.

* * *

At 9:21 PM, the cab stopped in front of the small two-story building on the outskirts of Savannah Central. The sign above the door read 'Suitopia', and the sign on the door read 'Closed', with a little clock indicating they'd re-open at 10 AM.

As the cab sped away, Nick just stood on the sidewalk across the street. The first floor was dark, and a single light was shining through a second-floor window. There was a slight flickering suggestive of images shifting on a TV screen.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady his nerves, and maybe slow his heart just a little, Nick crossed the street and approached the door. With a shaking finger, he pushed the button for the doorbell, which caused a buzz followed by a few seconds of silence. Then a window opened slid open above him and, without looking out, a voice called down, saying, "Read the sign!" before the window slammed shut again.

Nick closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then buzzed again. The window opened immediately and the voice said, "We're _closed!_ "

Another deep breath. _Buzz._

The window didn't open this time. Instead, there was a sound of feet shuffling about upstairs, then a rhythmic thumping on the steps, accompanied by irritated grumbling. "Who the _hell_ visits a _tailor_ three-and-a-half hours past-"

The voice fell silent the moment the door opened, and the two foxes stared at each other. Forever passed by over the course of a few seconds as two pairs of green eyes locked, both trying to figure out which emotions had the most right to come to the surface. Just like their last meeting five years before, it was Nick who broke the silence. "Hi, Dad. I'm sorry. I-"

He didn't get any further before John Wilde rushed him with a hug that nearly knocked him off his feet. "Five years, Nick," the elder fox rasped, barely able to find the voice to speak. "Five whole damn years, you've kept me waiting, worrying, wondering if you were even still _alive_!"

"Yeah… I'm really sorry Dad. I… Thought you were ashamed of me."

"Nick, I could _never_ be ashamed of you, son." Releasing his tight embrace around the slimmer fox, John stepped back, standing on the doorstep to put them at eye-level. "I thought you hated me for what I said," he stated, a few fresh tears rolling over his furry cheeks.

"I couldn't hate you, Dad," Nick replied, putting a paw on his father's shoulder. "I… Can't tell you how many times I've walked by here but couldn't work up the nerve to come in."

"You don't have to, Nicky," John chuckled, shaking his head and wiping the tears away. "You're here now, that's what's important. Now get in here, I won't have my son standing outside all night." He stepped back and waved his boy in.

The tailor's shop was almost exactly as Nick remembered it, except that at some point since he'd last been here it had been repainted. Wooden mannequins of a dozen different sizes lined the walls, each wearing a different suit, most with bits of extra fabric draped over the shoulders. One wall was entirely given over to cubbyholes holding more than a hundred different materials. There was a general sense of controlled clutter. ' _A tailor who spends all his time tidying up doesn't put enough effort into his work_ ,' John Wilde had said often in Nick's youth.

"Your mother's sleeping," John remarked. "I'd rather not wake her this late."

 _That explains the irritation at a late-night visit._

"So… I can tell you're here for a reason more than making amends. What do you need, son?"

"I… Have a dinner date tomorrow night. I need a suit."

"I'll say you do," John replied, looking over Nick's flowery shirt. "Where at?"

"Cicero's."

John's eyes widened in surprise. "You need a reservation just to get on the reservation list there. How'd you swing that?"

"I didn't. She did."

"So you _are_ doing well for yourself," John observed with a sly grin. He put a hand between Nick's shoulders and guided him to a pedestal in the middle of the room. "Does _she_ have a name?"

"Nelle."

"Nelle _Vox_?"

Nick looked to his father in surprise, before John grabbed his cheeks and forced him to look forward, wrapping his tape measure around Nick's neck to get his collar size. "You know her?"

"She's been in here a few times," John explained, measuring Nick's arms cuff-to-cuff, then shoulder-to-cuff. "How much do you know about her?"

"Well, she's gorgeous for starters," Nick joked, chuckling as his dad punched his shoulder, then drew the tape down along Nick's spine. "I know she's a private investigator with connections she tries to avoid talking about. Me and Judy are on a case with her, looking for a reporter. Robert Jacks."

"By Judy, I take it you mean Judy Hopps?" He measured Nick's waist, and wrote a few numbers down on a notepad.

"Yeah, that's the one. Guessing you know I'm on the force now. Hopps is my partner."

"Then you're in good hands, from what I've heard. Except where marmots are involved."

"Thanks. Agreed. Don't bring up the marmot. Anyway, that's about it for what I _know_ about Nelle. I've got a few other guesses, stuff I'll be able to ask about tomorrow."

"Well, far be it from me to spoil any surprises. When's the reservation for?" John asked as he drew the tape from Nick's waist to his ankle, then around various points along Nick's legs.

"7:30."

"I'll have this done by 5, then." John stood up straight and rolled up his tape measure before slipping it in his pocket, and went along the wall of cubbyholes, using a ladder to reach and grab several sample scraps. He climbed back down and started comparing patterns and materials, with either a shake of his head or a nod, and wrote a few notes down, before the notepad joined the tape in his pocket. "Now, I'm not gonna send my son back out into the night without offering him a drink, am I?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Dinner at Cicero's

* * *

"Stop _squirming_ , Nick. You'll just make it take longer," Katherine Wilde complained, pressing down on her son's shoulders so he'd sit still in the chair.

With a frustrated sigh, Nick glanced impatiently at the clock above the front counter. It read 6:28. He'd arrived over an hour and a half ago, intending to pick up his suit and get a cab to Cicero's in the Rainforest District, but it turned out the suit had a few more last-minute alterations to make, so John had made him stand there for another fifteen minutes while he worked the measuring tape once more. After that, Nick had spent almost an hour visiting with his mother, who of course had already been informed of his visit the night before. At long last, the suit was completed, but the moment he'd put it on, Katherine had said his fur was all wrong and needed to be brushed and styled. He'd tried to explain that he was in a hurry and would rather be at least a little early to the restaurant, but his mother would have none of it.

"For a night like this," she explained as she combed his fur behind his ears, "You have to look your absolute best. Trust me, I've seen Miss Vox, that's not the kind of vixen you want to look like you just woke up for. You should've seen your father the night of our first date, all pampered in a suit _his_ father made for him, did you know tailoring runs in the family Nick? On your father's side, of course, I always defied the stereotype by being terrible with needle and thread, but for the men of the Wilde family it practically runs in the blood. I'm sure John would have loved for you to follow in his footsteps, you'd have been a wonderful tailor I'm sure, and you look so _good_ in that suit, but I suppose you've found your calling as a police officer now, and that's fine. And you've been partnered up with that Judy Hopps, she's a real hero, you know? I'm so proud-"

Nick honestly didn't catch all of what his mother said. In truth, he hadn't had a chance to say much himself since he'd first gone out to the garden in the back. Katherine had been so excited to see her son, she'd hardly stopped talking the whole time.

"There, your fur looks good, let's see about that tie…" she murmured, moving around front and leaning down to straighten and tighten his knot. "There, half-Windsor, the perfect knot. I know your _name_ might be Nicky, but that's not how you have to wear your tie, you know? This way, you look like a respectable gentlemammal and-"

"Okay, Kate, I think he's ready to go," John cut in at last. _Fifteen minutes ago would have been nice, but what are parents for?_ The elder Wilde had been standing by the counter the whole time, just watching Nick's mother fuss over her boy. Maybe it was his revenge for the last five years… "You look good, son," he stated, giving Nick a hand to help him up from the chair. "Here," he maneuvered the younger Wilde in front of the mirror so he could get a look at himself.

Nick had to admit, he looked- and _felt_ \- like a completely different fox. The suit his father made for him consisted of a smooth black jacket and pants, a deep green undershirt and a slightly darker green tie. It was a nice contrast to his red fur- which seemed to shine like it hadn't in years- and a good match for his eyes. _If this is what it's like to dress up for Cicero's, I can't wait to see Nelle…_ Technically they were going there for the case, but it was _also_ a date, and he couldn't let that nice little fact escape him.

"He looks satisfied," he heard his mother whisper quietly to John.

"He _is_ satisfied. Just look at it, this is my best work," his father declared proudly, patting his son on the back. "Now, if you're done admiring yourself, boy, there's a cab outside. Don't keep your lady waiting."

* * *

His phone showed 7:26 when the cab pulled up across the street from the elegant single-story building in the Rainforest District. It didn't look very crowded, but that was because everyone who would be there was already inside. This wasn't the sorted of place you lined up out front of to get a table.

Well, _almost_ everyone was inside. He saw her as soon as the cab stopped, and it took the cab driver clearing his throat to snap Nick back to attention. "Beautiful girl," the aardvark in the driver's seat said, "But could you make sure to pay your tab before you get out?"

"What? Oh, uh… Yeah. Here, keep the change," Nick murmured, handing over a few bills before opening the door and stepping out. As soon as the taxi left, he smoothed out his coat and made his way across the street.

It would be clear to any mammal passing by- it _was_ clear to a few already- why Nick was so distracted. Aside from the shimmering silver dress that hugged all her curves, with a split down the right leg, perfection was the only word Nick could come up with to describe her. She wore a necklace of half a dozen small silver disks on a chain set with sapphires, the perfect complement to her dazzling eyes. It seemed she'd had her fur done professionally, it was so white it almost sparkled, and her bangs were swept to the side in such a way that they curled around her left ear in a wonderfully alluring manner. And the best part was the way her eyes lit up when she saw Nick approaching from across the street.

"Well, look at you, Red," she remarked with a charming smile. "Even I didn't expect you to be able to clean up _this_ good."

"I… Had some help," he replied a little nervously. "My, ah… My dad made the suit for me."

"I should have guessed."

"Guessed…?"

"That you're _that_ Wilde. Your father runs the nicest tailor in Zootopia, you know?"

"Does he? I haven't had a chance to sample the others," Nick answered with a wink. "Now, might I take you inside, Miss Vox? I'm pretty sure they're about to turn the rain on."

"A very good point. Yes, Mister Wilde, you may," Nelle replied coyly, offering an arm to the red fox.

As they walked through the doors, they were greeted by warm air and soft music. After a quick moment to look around, Nick was able to identify the source as a live piano player in the back corner, opposite the doors to the kitchen. The table were set up according to size from one side of the large room to the other, and directly ahead of them a smartly dressed badger stood behind a podium. His eyes settled on Nick first, then on Nelle, and the faintest of smiled tugged at the corner of his otherwise perfectly placid features. "Miss Vox, a pleasure to see you again, your reserved table will be right this way."

 _And the host identifies her at a glance…_ It was just like the caribou the day before. Clearly, Nelle was a known figure among high society.

At their table, Nick pulled a chair out for Nelle, for which she thanked him, before taking his own. The badger handed them a pair of menus, and asked if they would also like a wine list, and Nelle said yes, they would. Once the host had set off to retrieve it, Nelle looked across the table at Nick through lidded eyes, and stated, "I can see the gears turning, Red. You've got questions; ask them."

"Alright, then…" Nick leaned forward, resting his chin on a closed hand and meeting her gaze. "Here's how it'll go. I do have a few questions. For each one, you'll answer 'true' or 'false'. If I get all of them right, then at the end of the night I get a prize of my choice. If I don't, though, you get a prize for each one I get wrong. Deal?"

Those deep blue eyes met his with interest and amusement. She leaned forward too, and took on a mischievous smile. "Deal."

"Alright, let's start with the easy ones. You've had dealings with high society _before_ you became a private investigator."

"Almost too easy, Red, but yes, true."

"It gets better, trust me. Now then…" His free hand tapped rhythmically on the table as he paused for a moment, pretending to need a moment to think. "Your connection to high society is your family- or more specifically, your father."

"True."

"Your full first name is Fenella."

"Much as I dislike it, true. Thank you, Carmine," she added as the badger came back with the wine list.

"As I thought. It is therefore safe to say that you are none other than Fenella Margarette Vox, fourth child and only daughter to Edward Vox, owner and CEO of Vox National Bank, of which the father of our missing hare, one Martin Jacks, is the Tundratown branch manager, and lastly, it was Martin Jacks himself who hired you to find his son."

"Once more, daddy's reputation precedes me… Someone's done his homework, though," Nelle observed, looking up from the wine list to watch Nick though her lashes. "True, true, true, true and true, on all counts. Either you're a stalker… Or you just really want that prize."

"Let's go with the latter," Nick suggested, taking his chin off his paw and leaning back in his chair.

"Would the couple care to place their order now?" came the smooth voice of a panther in a tuxedo. His nametag read 'Oscar', and as was custom for waiters in a place like this, he didn't carry a notepad.

"Oh, uhm… I'll have the…" Nelle paused, looking over the menu quickly. "Can I have the blackened salmon penne?" she requested.

"Very well. And for you, sir?"

"Vegetable ratatouille, please," Nick added, handing over his menu.

"Oh!" Nelle exclaimed suddenly, remembering the wine. "We'll also take a bottle of the '86 Moondavi fume blanc, please."

"Excellent choice, ma'am, we'll have it right out." He gave a smooth half-bow to Nelle, then to Nick, before turning and heading for the kitchen doors.

"Well, you definitely _have_ earned your prize," Nelle remarked once the panther was out of sight. "Did you have to bring my full name into it, though? It's so embarrassing…"

"Could be worse, Snowflake. My middle name's Piberius."

A sudden snort was followed by a fit of giggling, drawing attention from the nearby tables to Nelle. A little too late, she covered her mouth with a paw, and looked apologetically around the room. "I'm sorry, Nick, I shouldn't laugh at your name," she murmured, though she still barely suppressed a few giggles. "School must have been so hard on you…"

"I did my best not to let people find out about it," he remarked, rolling his eyes.

"Your fume blanc, ma'am," Oscar announced upon returning to the table with two glasses and a bottle of white wine in a pitcher of ice. He personally popped the cork and poured the first glass for each of them, then set the bottle on the table and returned to the kitchen.

"Cheers," Nelle declared, raising her glass toward him. With a wide grin, Nick raised his own, and they both drank.

* * *

Over the next half-hour, to the tune of soft and elegant piano music, the two foxes got to know each other. They talked about family, about growing up in the different cultures between Zootopia's middle class and Zootopia's elite, about school days and early adulthood, when Nick started his schemes and Nelle went through college. She gave him three tries to guess her major, and he went with criminology, law and, on a whim, art. He was pleasantly surprised to discover it was literature. When their food arrived, they both set in with glee, appetites having spent all day building. Nick had only had the second half of his pizza when he woke up that morning, and Nelle explained it had been a single cinnamon waffle for her.

When their check came, it was apparently finally time for Nelle to take care of what they'd actually come here for. "Oscar, a moment please," she called before the panther slipped away.

"Yes, ma'am, how may I help you?"

"Well, I was sincerely hoping to see a friend of mine here, Robert Jacks. He comes here fairly often, and I was certain tonight would be one of his nights out."

"Ah, yes, Robert, he is one of the few able to call himself a regular…" Oscar paused, looking off contemplatively for a moment. "I'm afraid he hasn't been here in quite some time," he stated once he'd thought about it. "I'd say… Six weeks ago, was the last time. He and his father have had standing reservations, but I believe that last time it became quite heated between them. Four weeks ago, his father arrived, ate and left alone, and after that their two most recent reservations were dropped. I apologize for the inconvenience, ma'am. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thank you, Oscar, that'll be enough. Thanks anyway."

"Yes, ma'am, of course."

She waited until the panther departed once more, then turned to Nick. "Well, Red, I'd say the night is young. What have you got?"

Nick was intrigued by the curious look she gave him. It seemed to suggest one thing; she'd showed her hand, getting them into Cicero's at a single day's notice. Now she wanted to see what the 'fox who knows everyone' could do.

"Can you dance, Nelle?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Koslov's Palace

 **[A/N- In early drafts for the movie, Koslov was written in as the boss of Tundratown's mafia, and Koslov's Palace was meant to be his base of operations. When Mr. Big and Fru Fru were added in, Koslov was bumped down to the shrew's right-hand bear.**

 **The music in Koslov's Palace is electric swing. For reference, look up Parov Stelar- Booty Swing.]**

* * *

Koslov's Palace had opened the week before, and was still the hardest place to get into as far as Tundratown's night life went. Two-thirds of no one could get past the pair of polar bear bouncers at the door. You essentially needed a gold-plated invitation and a hefty bribe to get in. People waited all night just to get a chance to see what it looked like inside, and the walls were so well soundproofed that not a whisper escaped the building except for brief moments when the doors opened. So Nelle was reasonably skeptical as Nick opened her door and offered a hand out of the cab. Still, she had issued the challenge, so she tentatively took his paw and let him lead her past half-a-block of mammals waiting in line and right up to the bouncers. They stopped mere fete in front of the suited behemoths, and Nelle's paw tightened nervously around Nick's arm. The red fox simply smirked up at the bears, though, and after a moment one of them seemed to recognize them.

"Is that you, Nick?" the bouncer on the left asked, lifting his shades from his eyes and leaning down, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "You look… Different."

"Thanks, Kevin, you look pretty good yourself. Been working out?" Nick grinned and rested a paw reassuringly on Nelle's, who's grip still hadn't loosened. "Could you open the door, please?"

"For Nick Wilde, any time." Replacing his shades, he took the handle and pulled the door open so Nick and Nelle could pass through. Behind them, several in the line let out groans and objections, but were quickly silenced by the other polar bear's glare. The door closed behind them, and they walked down the hall, surrounded by the sounds of piano and brass with a rhythmic electric drum beat.

"Okay, Nick, you _have_ to tell me how you did that," Nelle plead, blue eyes bright with astonishment and intrigue.

"I have my ways," he answered with a grin, shrugging it off the same way she'd shrugged off getting into Cicero's at a moment's notice. "As it happens… Well, I know the owner."

It was clear Nelle had more questions, but before she could ask they reached the end of the hall and emerged into the large and spacious main room. Instead of the dimly lit and overly crowded warehouse most night clubs seemed like, Koslov's Palace boasted an actual ballroom; the setup was a large, open circle with a marble tile floor, crystal chandeliers hanging from a vaulted ceiling lined with mirrors, booth tables along most of the walls, and a stage upon which they'd set up a DJ's table for the electric part, with a live pianist and brass section.

Nick gave the arctic fox a moment to take it all in, enjoying the look of stunned amazement on her face. He'd already seen it once before; he'd been invited in two weeks before, along with Judy, to see the place before they opened. Eventually her eyes settled on his, and with a charming smile, she squeezed his arm and murmured, "You are _full_ of surprises, Red."

"Of course I am, Snowflake," he replied with a wink, then slipped his arm out of her grip and offered a paw. "Shall we?"

Giving an excited grin, she took his paw and let him lead her out onto the dance floor. It wasn't hard to find a clear space for them. The ballroom was massive, and with their opening week still going, they were very selective about how many mammals they let in.

Letting go of Nelle's paw so they could face each other, Nick took a step back and gave a smooth bow, then stepped in and took her paw again, his other going around her waist, and they set in. They started smooth and slow, enough to get into the rhythm and get used to the beat. This wasn't regular ballroom dancing, though. Almost immediately, they had to pick it up a few notches, sweeping across the dance floor, spinning and twirling, quickly and smoothly shuffling their feet.

With each blare of the trumpets, they added some flare to their dance. They moved independently, but acted in unison and maintained some form of contact most of the time. The piano picked up, and in a series of twirls, Nelle put a few steps between them. When the horns came back, she took his paw and twisted in until her back pressed against his chest, and the tip of her nose touched against his. She gave him a quick wink, then spun back out.

After ten minutes on the dance floor, they made their way out to the edge of the circle and took a seat in one of the empty booths. Nick let Nelle slid in first, then took a seat next to her, and was presently surprised when she scooted in close to him. "That was unexpected, Red. Where'd you learn to move like that?"

"I've spent half my life living off charm and charisma, Snowflake," Nick replied with a laugh. "I've had more than ample opportunity to practice my steps. Can I get you a drink, by the way?"

Nelle thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "Maybe later, but right now I'm still feeling that Moondavi. Just let me… Catch my breath a little." Leaning against his side, she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Mister Wilde," a deep voice came from above them then. Nick looked up to see another suited polar bear. This one, Nick didn't recognize. "The Boss would like to see you."

Nelle's eyes opened and she looked to Nick with some concern, but the red fox gave her a reassuring smile. "Lead the way," he told the bear, and took Nelle's paw. The polar bear led them around the edge of the floor, through a door to the left of the stage. The music grew faint as the door closed behind them and they moved down a long hall, then up a flight of stairs and down another hall. At the end, the bear stopped and knocked at another door. "Come in," came a voice Nick immediately recognized. The polar bear held the door for the foxes, and closed it once they were inside.

Nick had already known that a few of the mirrors lining the ballroom were one-way glass. The entire back wall of this room was given over to one such window. The largest polar bear Nick knew stood in the corner, looking out over the ballroom. On a desk in front of the window, a small chair had been set, upon which sat an elderly shrew.

"Nicky, how nice of you to visit," Mr. Big greeted. The red fox approached the table, lifted the shrew and gave him the customary kiss on the tiny cheek.

"I was in the neighborhood," Nick played it off once he'd set the shrew back down. They had, of course, been in the Rainforest District an hour earlier. "Very nice place you've got here," he observed.

"A birthday present for Koslov," Mr. Big stated, waving a hand toward the polar bear. "In honor of fifteen years of faithful service to myself and my family."

"And the music… Not exactly what I'd expect. Aren't you usually more into jazz?"

"The music is also for Koslov. It makes him smile."

Nick cast a curious glance to the polar bear. He was certain he still had yet to see Koslov smile. Or show much of any emotion, for that matter. Then he remembered what- or rather, who- had brought him here. He looked back over his shoulder, to where Nelle had remained standing by the door, clearly hesitant to approach the Tundratown Mafia boss's table. All it took, though, was an outstretched paw and another warm smile from Nick, and she crossed the room. Nick turned back to Mr. Big and said, "Might I introduce-"

"Fenella Vox, yes," the shrew finished for him. Nick's mouth snapped shut in surprise, and Mr. Big laughed softly. "Anyone connected to someone as influential as Edward Vox, I make sure to keep track of. Which is why I called you up here. I am aware that you've been looking into the disappearance of a certain journalist."

Nick blinked, looked to Nelle then back to the shrew. "Wait, how do you know… You didn't have anything to do with-"

"Of course not," the shrew interrupted again. "I make a point to keep the local journalists on my good side. It helps keep any bad publicity down. However, I may have some information to help lead you toward whoever _did_ take the hare. But that is not something to discuss here; Nick, I would like you and Judy to meet me for lunch on Tuesday. There's a small café a few blocks from here; I'll have the details sent to you."

"Thank you, Mr. Big." He cast another glance to Nelle, then asked, "Can I bring-"

"Of course, Nicky boy. You are family, and those close to family are close to me. Wherever you go, she may, too."

* * *

It was near midnight when the front doors of Koslov's Palace opened and the two foxes walked out into the dark Tundratown streets. Most of the mammals lined up outside had by then realized they wouldn't be getting in and decided to go elsewhere.

"Which way is your place?" Nick asked. "I'll walk you home."

"Thanks… This way," Nelle replied softly, pointing with the paw that wasn't wrapped around Nick's arm. She'd kept very close to him since their meeting with Mr. Big, but Nick had noticed she'd been oddly quiet the whole time.

As it turned out, Nelle's apartment was only a few blocks away. The building wasn't as tall or nearly as elegant as the Arctic Suite, but it was certainly nicer than Nick's. At the front steps, Nick stopped and turned to face the arctic fox. This was where he got awkward; parting ways was never his strong point. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, ah… That was quite a night. I'll… See you tomorrow, then?"

Nelle, looking up at him, rolled her eyes and took both his paws in hers. "Please, Nick, that was a _perfect_ night. Now you're right here, it's very late, and your place is halfway across the city." She leaned up and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek, then smiled shyly and added, "You can come up."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Nick sat silently on the couch, paws in his lap, twiddling his fingers and looking around. It was a nice place, bigger than his- almost as big as Robert Jacks' apartment- and comfortably decorated. There was a loveseat sofa set at an angle to the larger sofa he sat on, and a fairly big TV. He hadn't seen much other than the living room, though- as soon as they'd entered, Nelle had excused herself to her bedroom to freshen up. He'd heard running water start up after a few minutes, and figured it was best to be patient. _Definitely not my virtue._

With Nelle in the shower and nothing to do in the living room, Nick's mind wandered. For the first few minutes, he replayed the events of the night in his mind. After that, he'd moved on to wondering what Mr. Big might have to tell them on Monday. Now he was just wondering what exactly Nelle was doing behind that door.

He turned the TV on, turned the volume down a bit, and flipped through the channels a little. There wasn't anything too exciting on at this hour, and anyway he found he wasn't really focused on it, so before long he turned it off. He went to the kitchen, looked through the cupboards until he found the cups and poured himself a glass of water, then went back to the couch. He took a sip, then set the glass down on the coffee table. A little while later he noticed a stack of coasters on the corner of the table and grabbed one to put under the glass.

Finally, the door opened. Immediately, Nick sat straight up and looked over to where Nelle stood in the doorway. Shy looked across the room at him, smiling shyly. She'd changed into pajamas; pants and a long-sleeve shirt, light blue and patterned with little white… Nick couldn't help but grin.

 _Snowflakes._

Nelle made her way across the room and sat down next to him on the couch, scooted close so she was right up against him again. _She certainly turned affectionate…_ Nick wasn't about to object, though, smiling softly as he reached an arm across her shoulders. "Anything on TV?" she asked, picking up the remote to turn it on and flip though the channels.

"Not much. A few things might be worth watching… Didn't really grab my attention."

Nelle just shrugged and, after finding an old comedy Nick had already seen a dozen times, set the remote down and nuzzled into him a little.

 _This… This is nice…_ Nick thought. It wasn't quite what he'd been expecting when she'd invited him up, but it was actually pretty comfortable, and he found he didn't mind just sitting here with here.

That was until he felt a slight shaking under his paw. He looked down at her, and his brow furrowed. Nelle was looking down, trembling softly… Then he heard her sniff. "Nelle, are you… Are you crying?"

She stopped trembling then, sniffed again and looked up at him. Yes, she was crying. "I'm sorry, Nick… I shouldn't be… After such a great night, I have to get all emotional…"

"No, it's alright, I mean… What's wrong?"

Wiping a few tears away, Nelle shook her head and said, "It's nothing, it'll sound stupid…"

Nick reached up and put a hand on her chin. "I say something stupid at least five times a day. It's never stopped me. What's up?"

She chuckled softly, and gave a nod. "You do have a knack for it. It's just… Well, I thought since I got to the city, I'd… I thought I'd _made_ something of myself over the last five years, something special."

"I… Sorry, I don't follow."

"Come on, Nick, I'm supposed to be 'high society'. I spent six years at university, got a proper education… You… No offense, but when I met you I thought you were just a two-bit hustler turned cop. Turns out you're _family_ to the biggest mafia boss in the city."

"That… Was mostly Judy's doing, really. I was on bad terms with Mr. Big until she dragged me into her case."

"Nick, I couldn't even get in to _see_ Mr. Big without you taking me in. My _dad_ couldn't get me into Koslov's Palace."

"Well, okay, but… You can do stuff I can't. You got reservations at Cicero's."

"The owner is one of dad's biggest clients. He made that call."

"The host knew you by name."

"I was a waitress there for a year after moving to Zootopia, Nick."

"Oh…"

"Who do you think got me the interview?"

"But you've got your job. I looked into it; you're the most successful P.I. in the city. The _mayor_ vouches for you."

"The mayor's _husband_ is golf buddies with my dad. And four of every five clients I get are personal referrals from him. The rest are referred by those same referrals."

"And you get _those_ referrals because you close every case."

"Come on Nick, this isn't fair, I want to be upset about this and you're doing too good a job making me feel better," Nelle murmured, looking down and burying her face in his shoulder. He did hear a small laugh in her voice, though. "It's just… When I moved here, I thought I was gonna be someone special, someone important, and everything I have is _still_ all because of my dad."

"Hey, if my opinion counts, you're special and you're important to me, and that's got nothing to do with who your dad is."

She paused then, and looked up at him. Her eyes lit up a bit, and after she wrapped her arms around Nick's waist, giving him a tight hug and resting her head against his chest. "Thanks, Nick…"

"Great," he chuckled. "First I get an overly emotional bunny for a partner, now I've got an overly emotional vixen for a girlfriend."

"You know you love me…" Nelle murmured quietly.

Nick paused, looking down at her. _Now, isn't that something? Has to be coincidence, but… I'll take it._

"Do I know that, Snowflake?" he asked with a grin, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Yes. Yes, I do."

* * *

 **[A/N- It'll probably be a few days before I'm able to update this again. Gotta have access to a good computer to get these out, and for the next couple days I probably won't. So, I took what I'd planned to do in two chapters and made it a single longer one. Hope you enjoyed it. ;) ]**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Good Morning

* * *

 **[A/N Hey everybody! Gonna have a few days access to a computer, so I can push out a couple updates for you. Moving forward, that's how it'll have to be for this story. A couple updates each weekend (hopefully). Anyway, enjoy! =D]**

* * *

 _Maybe… A little heavy on the drinks last night…_ Nick groaned softly as he shifted, adjusting his shoulders against the arm of the couch. Blinking in the early morning sun, he waited as events from his night out with Nelle slowly played back in his mind.

Ever the gentlemammal, he had insisted that he wouldn't share the bed with Nelle in her inebriated state. When Nelle huffed and stood up, hands on her hips and pouting, to ask him what he meant, she'd quickly became lightheaded and may have stumbled, if he hadn't pulled her back with a hand around her back. Losing her feet and landing on top of him, she had giggled and accepted that maybe he had a point, but also in return insisted that she wouldn't leave him out alone on the couch. And so she grabbed them a blanket and they'd watched TV.

The TV was still playing, almost unheard with the low volume. _Sunday toons…_ He reached for the remote on the table, but couldn't reach it. There was a bundle of white fur nestled very comfortably on his chest, and his arm couldn't stretch far enough without waking said bundle. He sort of remembered that bundle getting pretty cozy the night before. _How far…?_ He grabbed the edge of the blanket and lifted it off her shoulders, peeking down under the covers. She still had those adorable snowflake pajamas snugly in place… His undershirt was open in the front, but his pants were still buttoned and zipped. For the life of him, he couldn't remember when his shirt had been unbuttoned. _Still, didn't go too far… Good. Complicated enough with just this…_ Not that he wouldn't mind a bit of… _Later. Hold those thoughts for later._

That didn't help now, of course. He had the TV just loud enough to notice but too quiet to hear what was being said; he could benefit from a trip to the bathroom; and most of all, he wanted to get a glass of water. _A pitcher of water… Four cups of coffee, black as I can get it… A really big pancake, sliced bananas, another pancake on top…_ His standard hangover cure.

 _But how to… Affectionately, that's how. She's a cuddler, so… Cuddly._ He had to do something. At least one of his problems didn't seem like it would wait too long, and adorable as she was, Nelle _was_ kind of in the way. Nick looked down at her sleeping face with a mischievous little smirk, reached one hand up and drew the tip of his claws gently through the fur behind her left ear. It twitched. Back and forth, slowly, gently… It twitched again, and Nelle sniffed. Claws moved down along the back of her jaw, then back up to the tip of her ear.

Slowly, Nelle's stunning blue eyes peeked out from her lashes. "Nick…" she murmured softly, the edges of her mouth curling in a soft smile. She blinked a few times… Then her eyes went wide. "Nick!" she exclaimed a bit louder, surprise clear in her voice. She looked down, paused a moment, then her eyes widened even more. "You're na…. You're nak-" Realizing she was laying atop what appeared from her angle to be a naked fox, the vixen leapt up off the couch, taking the blanket with her. Then she was able to see that his shirt was still mostly on, and his pants entirely so, and she seemed to settle down a little. Of course, one more idea popped into her head and she looked down at herself, giving a sigh of relief when she saw her own pajamas still entirely in place, if a bit disheveled. "So… We didn't…"

"It doesn't appear so. It's okay, Snowflake, you're allowed to sound disappointed," he remarked with a wink.

She cast him a scowl, but couldn't hold it very long when she saw the mischievous glint in his eye, and chuckled quietly. "You're not _that_ good, Red. Not yet."

"Well, I'll have to try harder next time. Speaking of, how's your schedule look?"

"Busy, cluttered, loud and exhausting. No clear time off for a few days at least…" She paused, looking off into the distance, tipping her chin on one paw and using the other to tick things off an imaginary list hanging in the air. "Today I'm gonna have to see Martin Jacks, ask about his twice-monthly meetings at Cicero with his son… Not sure why he didn't mention that before, there _has_ to be something that can help with the case there." When she saw Nick's hopeful look, she smiled apologetically and shook her head. "I'm afraid you can't take part in that meeting. Martin's a bit of a recluse. He _knows_ me, has for years thanks to Daddy's influence. If I bring a stranger, he'll hardly say a word. In the meantime, you should go see if you… _contacts_ know anything. I know you have a few connections from your days before ZPD. I would assume Judy's made some too, in her time here."

Leaning back against the arm of the couch, Nick stretched his own arms out. "Got it. Tomorrow?"

"Monday's _always_ busy for me, Nick. It's my paperwork and scheduling day. Just because I have one big case doesn't mean I can completely ignore others. I'll have half a dozen forms to get notarized, at least twenty calls to return, and a few interviews. Usually I'll take three or four cases a week and sort of juggle them… I might limit it to one or two others while this one's open."

"Okay, then, Monday's a no-go every week forever. Cool. Tuesday we've got that thing with Mr. Big, and I'm sure that'll pull up some deep and pressing lead to follow. On to Wednesday."

"Wednesday's an open book, for now. I'll let you know if something comes up. Put a paw in it, though, I'm sure I'll be ready for a break by then… Anyway! Breakfast."

"Yeah, breakfast. And…" He paused, and Nelle giggled. The look on his face was pretty clear.

"Second door on the left," she stated, pointing down the hall.

Giving a quick thanks, Nick stood up and quickly shuffled to the bathroom.

* * *

"Hey, Carrots, what's hoppin'?"

" _Wow Nick, it's been a whole three days since I got that one."_

"Yeah, it's a classic. Anyway…"

" _Anyway, Slick, how'd your date go?"_

"Great, great, I'll tell you all about it later. Hey, I know the department's got a file to keep tabs on where Finnick's got his van, any chance you could pull it up?"

" _Any reason you can't just call him?"_

"Oh, yeah, you know how much he _loves_ helping his favorite officers with ongoing investigations. Better to just pop in for a visit, I think."

" _Point taken."_ He could hear the sound of keys clicking on a laptop in the background. He waited a couple minutes and… _"Savannah Central, 13_ _th_ _and Prairie."_

"Great, I'll meet you there. Coffee's on me this time."

 **[A/N And that's it for Chapter 6. Not a long one, I know. (Shortest so far, actually.) Hey, it's late, it's been a long week, and I didn't feel like writing out their whole breakfast routine. I'll see about getting two in tomorrow. Please don't hunt me down and hang me over a bucket by my ankles if it doesn't work out. -VV]**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Off-the-Record

* * *

 **[Hey everybody, tonight I've got a nice treat for you. We've got a two-parter here, individual scenes for our ZPD team and Nelle, along with some made-up backstory for how the con-foxes started their run together. Enjoy!]**

* * *

Nick had known Finnick most of his life. When he'd first left home and started looking for his 'big hustle', the quick, easy scam that was gonna make him rich, he'd met the little fox following a particularly embarrassing failure. Finnick, having witnessed the whole thing, drew him aside and proceeded to explain that there was no 'big hustle', no quick way to a life of luxury. Just a dozen little jobs a week adding to a nice, livable payday. After what felt like an hour of berating and lecture, pointing out every single mistake he was making and what he _should_ do about it, Nick had lost his temper and challenged the little guy to do better.

Unphased, Finnick had asked to see his watch. It was a cheap thing, his mom had got it for him a few weeks back in hopes that he would get home on time. It looked nice, but was only really worth about $30. Confused, Nick had handed it over, and without another word, Finnick turned and walked into a bar. Not five minutes had passed before he came back out, handed Nick a hundred dollar bill, and made a show of pocketing another four. This elicited a low growl from the red fox. Finnick assumed he must be mad about losing the watch, or not getting a bigger cut, but instead Nick simply said, "Teach me how to do that." And so began their two-decade career. Six years Nick's elder, Finnick kind of felt like a big brother. Which was nice, because as the runt of the litter, that was something he'd never been.

* * *

"So you haven't even _seen_ Finnick since you started at the academy?"

"Nah, he's been kind of… Avoiding me. I think he doesn't wanna see me in uniform. Which is why we didn't call ahead, and why we're dropping in on a Sunday morning, off duty."

"Makes sense, I guess…" Judy admitted cautiously, taking the coffee he'd brought for her. After getting the last known location for Finnick's van, Nick had punched it into Zoogle maps and checked in the area for a meeting place. He'd settled on a small outdoor café and texted Judy the address to meet him there. She was already there when he'd arrived- her apartment was in walking distance and he'd spent the night in Tundratown. She hadn't got anything though, making sure to hold him to his word about coffee being on him.

"So, that location was reported three days ago, yeah? Think he's still there?"

"Yeah. I asked Benny if he could check with patrol. He got confirmation from Fangmeyer and Delgato. The van's there, as of 20 minutes ago."

"Great," Nick murmured, taking a long sip of his hot beverage. "No point dragging it out, then… Let's go."

Judy gave a nod and tossed her empty cup in the trash can on the way out. _How's she do that? I get rabbits are supposed to do everything fast… You'd think the heat would at least slow her down though._ The café was all of a block and a half from where Finnick was supposedly parked. Nick wished he could have made that walk take longer. And judging by the glances Judy cast his way, she could tell. _Always was an open book to her…_

After what he _wished_ could've seemed like an hour, they came around the corner and there it was, Finnick's oversized van, decked out with flame decals and dark-tinted windows, parked to the side halfway down the alley. All the doors were closed, and the engine was off, and when they got close they could hear deep snoring coming from inside. Tentatively, Nick reached up and knocked on one of the back doors.

The snoring stopped almost immediately, and after a few seconds was followed by a very familiar voice growling, "What the… Who the hell…?" The door opened a crack, and after just a second to identify his guests, the little fox pulled it shut again with a slam. "Go away, Nick."

"Can't do that, Finn," Nick called back. He was met with silence. "Come on Finnick, we need your help."

"I ain't a rat, Nick, get lost."

"Not asking you to rat. This is all off-the-record."

A few more seconds of silence, then the door opened again. Standing in the back of his van, Finnick was eye-level with Nick. He looked the taller fox up and down, then stated, "You don't look like a cop."

Almost casually, Nick pulled up the badge he kept around his neck while off-duty, and Judy took hers off a pouch on her belt. "Sorry, buddy."

"Figures. But looks like you're off duty, so at least you ain't here to _arrest_ me."

"You know I wouldn't do that, Finn."

Finnick scowled. "I know Nick Wilde wouldn't, but I've never met this _Officer_ Wilde. Seems I don't know shit about you at all, these days. How'd you even find me?"

"We, uh…" If it hadn't been awkward before, now Nick had to explain ZPD had been tracking his movements- and a couple dozen others- for years. "The department keeps tabs on several vehicles. Including your van. I mean, not that you're under investigation, it's just that-"

"It's just good to know where all the _cons_ are, right? What do you even want, Nick?"

"We… Well, we need some help."

"I don't help ZPD."

"It's not for the department, Finn. It's a case a P.I. brought in, she wanted our help with it."

This at least caught Finnick's interest a little. He loosened up a bit, and asked, "Who?"

"Nelle Vox. Know her?"

"Not by face. Heard of her, though. Ain't she Ed Vox's kit? Pampered little snow pup?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

With a laugh, Finnick remarked, "Well, don't fuck that up, kid. She's way out of your league."

 _Don't be so sure…_ "Not the point. The case we're helping her with involves a missing reporter. Robert Jacks. Heard of him?"

"Can't say I have. Might have something to do with…" Finnick trailed off, a thought occurring to him.

"With…? Come on, buddy, don't leave us hanging."

The little fox fixed him with a glare, then shrugged. "He ain't the only missing prey. About thirty been snatched up over the last two months. _All_ prey species."

"Wait, _thirty?_ How have we not heard of this?"

"'Cause they ain't the kind to go to the cops about it, and they ain't the kind who no anyone'd go to the cops on their behalf. Cons, criminals, vagrants, decent honorable folk like myself. Had three contacts go cold, started getting worried, then I _watched_ them take my buddy Evan away. Porcupine, sells-" Finnick caught himself and shook his head. "I ain't gonna tell you what he _sells_ , just know he's a 'proper businessman'. Anyway, they got him just a couple nights back. I been keeping an ear out myself, but ain't heard a thing since."

Judy cut in, hopping up on the fender of Finnick's van. "You _saw_ them take someone and didn't do anything?"

"What, all ten pounds of me? Get down, Fuzzball, and explain what you'd expect _me_ to do about it."

"Call the cops. Call _Nick._ Tell someone about it."

"I'm telling you now, ain't I? Anyway, if you got a missing bunny, he ain't the only one. That's all I got, gotta do the rest yourselves. Now if you'll kindly get lost…" He stepped back, grabbed the van's back door and pulled it shut.

* * *

"Mister Jacks, you have a visitor," a slim female ferret stated, peeking into the door of his office.

The snowshoe hare nearly leapt up from his chair before settling back down, looking to the ferret then down at his day planner, flipping back and forth through the pages. "What? No, no what? I…" He drew a furry digit up and down along the page, and his frown deepened. "I shouldn't. I don't have any appointments, no one called, there… I shouldn't have anyone here, not right now." He looked up and fixed his frown on his secretary. "Who is it?"

"It's Fenella Vox, sir," the ferret answered simply.

"Oh, _Fenella!_ Why didn't you say so, Thea? Let her in, let her in!" Much as he hated unexpected visitors, he didn't want to risk getting on his boss's bad side by denying his daughter entry to his office. He figure you could never know exactly what might offend a fox.

The door closed for a moment while Thea went to tell the guest she could come through, then opened again, and in strolled the tall, sleek arctic fox. He'd been close friends with Edward most of his life, they'd even gone to school together, and he'd watched Nelle grow up. "Miss Vox!" he greeted amicably. "I… I take it this is about my son? Please tell me you know where he is."

"I'm afraid not, Martin," Nelle said, shaking her head. "But, that's why I'm here."

"Anything I can do to help, Fenella, anything at all." How had she not made any progress yet? He'd already told her everything he knew, and that had been five days ago. Surely she had _something_ by now.

"Well, you see, we found out-"

"We? Who is 'we'?"

"Well, I went to the ZPD and they gave me a team to help me with this."

With a sigh of frustration, Martin closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. She'd brought the cops in. Cops meant police reports, and police reports meant people would _know_ about this. For a banking executive, most publicity was _bad_ publicity. Banks only got on the news when something went wrong. Still, he'd told her to do _whatever_ she needed to do to find his son.

"Okay, fine, fine, I guess it had to come to that. What did you find out?"

"We found out Robert had a twice-monthly regular reservation at Cicero's. With you."

Martin froze. _How_ had she found out about _that_? And what did it have to do with the case?

"Yes, Robert and I had dinner there. He didn't like coming to the office, and I _refuse_ to set foot in _any_ news station, so I came up with that as a compromise. Why does that matter?"

"Well, it's just, six weeks ago was the last time he was there. One of the servers said he'd witnessed some… Hostile exchange between you, and that he'd left and hadn't shown up since."

"Yes, yes, we argued. He said he'd found some big story, something that would put him on page one. I told him it was a silly story and that there wasn't anything to it. He stormed out, but a few days later he called, and explained his editor had agreed with me, and he dropped it. There's nothing to it."

"Well… What was the story?"

Martin frowned again, rubbed his eyes, trying to think back. He'd had a few drinks after getting home that night… "It was… Something about a couple mammals disappearing. Not much, five or six. Criminal types, at that, probably just got on the bad side of some other criminals."

He didn't like the smile Nelle got then. She was putting two and two together in some strange math he probably wouldn't agree with, he could tell. "Thank you, Mister Jacks, that clears things up." She turned, and left, and Martin decided it definitely wasn't too early for a drink.

* * *

In the elevator of the Vox National - Tundratown branch office, Nelle pulled out her phone. She'd got a text from Nick during her meeting with Martin.

' _Talked to Finnick. Several dozen prey species gone missing. All involved in criminal activity.'_

The smile on Nelle's face widened a bit. She knew exactly where to go next, _and_ she could have her Red meet her there. She brought up the keyboard and typed out a return text. _'Met with Robert's dad. He was digging into a missing mammals story. Criminals disappearing, supposed to have been dropped. Meet at Z. Times office, 1:30. XOXO.'_ Her smile turned a little mischievous as she added that last bit, just before hitting send. _When you get a guy, always keep his mind on you. Don't let him wander._ She thanked her mom for those words of wisdom.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Zootopia Times

* * *

 **[A/N As promised, the second update for today, making up for the short chapter after a few days away. (And yes, while it is technically Saturday for most of the world, I started this at 11:13 PST, so I'm counting it as updating the same day as chapter 7.**

 **Don't eat me. -Cotton's Parrot) ]**

* * *

"You're not gonna just open up about last night, are you?"

"You know me so well, Carrots," Nick replied, taking a bite of his avocado salmon burger.

Judy rolled her eyes and poked her fork into her garden salad, coming away with a few bits of vegetables. When Nick had informed her that they were expected at 1:30, her first observation had been that they had almost two hours to kill, so they should have lunch. The Zootopia Times office was near the center of Savannah Central, actually just about two blocks past the police station. They were on the district's outskirts, but still a nice enough part of town, and they could easily take the train to their meeting with Nelle after they ate.

"I really do, Slick. And you know me well enough to know if you don't gonna tell me I'm just gonna bug you 'till you do."

"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. But, I'll be generous, and simply request that you ask nicely."

"Could you tell me about your night please, Nick?" Judy asked, doing her very best to look and sound sweet and cuddly. She was, of course, naturally gifted.

"Oh, it was a pretty nice night," Nick remarked _very_ nonchalantly. "Slept great, woke up refreshed."

The 'sweet and cuddly' demeanor cracked as Judy rolled her eyes. "You _know_ what I mean, Slick."

"Do I, Hopps?" He grinned wide. "Yes. I do. But the look on your face was worth it. So then, where to start…?"

Nick took a long sip of iced tea, then leaned back in his chair and replayed the events of the previous night for Judy… Mostly. She didn't need to know that he'd literally shared the night with Nelle on the couch. He did make a point to tell her all about the meeting with Big, and told her that she, of course, was also invited.

"Wow, that's…" Judy took a moment to think of exactly what it was. "Really sounds like a _wild_ night."

Nick chuckled at the effortless pun.

"Did you do it?" Judy asked suddenly, right when Nick was taking another drink. He snorted, the tea went down the wrong tube, and he choked on it for a moment before he caught his breath. He couldn't help but notice the snicker the bunny was barely suppressing. _Little menace did that on purpose._

"No, we didn't 'do it'. You've gotta remember, foxes mate for life. Pick one partner, and that's it, forever. Not every mammal can have a bunny's libido."

"So, Cicero's," Judy recounted. "One of the nicest restaurants in the city. Then Koslov's Palace, literally the _premier_ nightclub of Tundratown right now. And finally, a retreat to the high-end apartment of the daughter of one of the richest mammals in all of Zootopia. Why can't _I_ get a date like that?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Maybe you're intimidating?" Nick answered, grinning because that was actually something Judy would be _proud_ of. "Come on Fluff, you're adorable- don't throw silverware in public, please- when you wanna be, I'm sure the hares are popping out of the ground to ask you out."

"You'd be surprised," Judy answered dryly, taking the fork he wasn't using to replace the one she'd thrown at him. "Or maybe you just don't have the latest census data. This isn't the Burrows, rabbits aren't exactly that common in the city. Too much hustle-and-bustle for most of them. I like it, personally, but this has literally been my dream since I was old enough to hop. Now, if I went back to Bunnyborrow, the bucks actually _would_ be popping out of the ground to get at me, but that's not what _I_ want. If I got in a relationship, it'd have to be with someone who'd be comfortable around here. So, for the most part that means a rabbit already in Zootopia, preferably around my own age, and not already settled down. I've gotta tell you, Slick, that's slim pickings."

"Alright, fair enough. Tell you what, I'll keep an ear out for you, if I happen to run into a nice buck on the prowl, I'll point him in your direction."

"How sweet of you," Judy chuckled, then took another big bite.

* * *

"I appreciate the whole 'never late' thing, Red," the white-furred vixen remarked, slipping her phone back into her pocket as Nick and Judy strolled up to the Zootopia Times Headquarters. "But how is it you also manage to never be more than five minutes early?"

"Not sure. Maybe it runs in the family. Mom's side." He grinned and looked up at the building before them. It wasn't large, but it was certainly extravagant, with a fancy brick-and-stone face reaching up above them, with a set of ebony double doors, and above that in gold-painted steel, the letters 'Z.T.'. Then his gaze settled back on Nelle, and he recalled how her text early had been ended. He'd actually looked at that text a few times over the last two hours just to see that part. _Is it normal to be this giddy about a vixen?_ His smile widened a bit. _If it's this vixen, then yes._

When they off-duty cops reached her, Nelle gave Nick a warm hug, nuzzling her cheek softly against his neck. _Affectionate, isn't she?_ Not that he minded. Though maybe their embrace went a little long, because eventually Judy had to clear her threat to remind them they were in public and she was standing right there. "Oh, uh… Sorry, Hopps," Nelle remarked, stepping back from Nick and smiling to the rabbit, the tips of her ears taking on a little pink. "So then, well… Let's go inside."

As Nelle went inside, Judy gave Nick a questioning look, and he shrugged. "Close as I can tell, she acts on impulse and likes affection, and has a shy side. Pretty cute, I think." He gave the bunny a wink, and she shrugged in turn before following both foxes in.

The inside of the Zootopia Times building was all business, and it was certainly busy. Right up front, they had a receptionist's desk, before a short hallway. Past said hallway's bathroom doors was a large, open room with two dozen cubicles where journalists and columnists worked on their bits for the next day's paper.

Nelle casually strolled up to the receptionist and said, "I'd like to see Mister Honey, please."

The bored-looking prairie dog picked up the phone on her desk and punched in an extension. "Nelle Vox is here to see you, sir. Yes, again. Yes, I believe she knows the way, sir. Right away, sir." She set the phone back down and said, "He'll see you. And your friends as well, I assume." Turning her chair, she picked up a magazine and thumbed through the pages. Nelle simply waved for her companions to follow her down the hall and past the cubicles into a corner office.

Doug Honey, a short, stocky badger with a flat-top haircut, kept his office decorated with fifty top stories from his time as the paper's editor. His desk was lined with half-a-dozen awards for journalism. And behind the desk, the mammal himself sat in what looked like a _very_ plush office chair. "Nelle, darlin', what can I do ya for?"

Nelle smiled sweetly and said, "I'd like to see what notes are left from a specific story Robert was following a couple weeks before he disappeared. It involved a couple missing mammals. I'm told it was dropped at the insistence of both his father and yourself?"

"That it was, sweet stuff, that it was. You can dig it out though if you want, if he kept it. Cubicle eight. Let me know if ya need anythin' else, sugar."

Turning from the desk- and smiling softly at Nick's inquisitive look- Nelle walked back out the office door and into the drafting room. "Don't worry, I don't _think_ he has a thing for me," she stated once the door closed. "He talks like that to everyone. You get used to it. Now… This way."

It didn't take long for her to find the desk, and almost immediately she went shuffling through the drawers. Judy decided to have a quick interview with Robert's immediate neighbor. "So… Hi there, Officer Hopps… Off-duty," she added at the koala's skeptical glare. She pulled out her badge, and the marsupial shrugged.

"I assume there's 'a few questions' coming, Officer?"

"Well… Yeah. Just a few. Do you know anything about the story Robert dropped a few weeks ago?"

"Not likely," the koala replied with a derisive laugh.

"Not likely that you know anything, or…?"

"Not likely that Robert dropped a story. Ever. Kinda had a knack for it- pretty much everything that ever landed on his desk turned into something big. He wouldn't be looking into a story if he wasn't sure there was something there, and he wouldn't drop it unless the file was literally on fire. Now if you don't mind…" Shrugging off any further questions, the koala turned back to what he'd been doing before.

"Found it!" Nelle called out triumphantly, holding up a thin, blue folder.

 **[And there you have it! Stay tuned, because the next chapter involves Mr. Big and some very 'Big' leads. -VV]**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Visiting at the Office

* * *

 **A/N; I know last time I said this chapter would contain some big leads and the Mr. Big visit, but I'm putting that off for another chapter or 2. Why? Well, it didn't feel right skipping all of Monday, a whole day of possible story development (and maybe a little extra fluff).**

 **Also, I apologize for almost a week of absence. I'd like to try to limit my downtime, and get some writing in at least 3 days a week, but unfortunately that simply wasn't possible last week. But I will do everything within my power to not let a weekend go by without at least 2 or 3 new chapters. More if possible. May not always be possible.**

 **And now, without further ado, enjoy.**

* * *

At half past nine, Nelle let out a soft groan of disapproval toward the ornery shaft of sunlight that had decided just then was the perfect time to glare right in her face. Turning over, she pulled the thick comforter over her head, but after a few minutes decided she wasn't getting any more sleep.

Sitting up, she grabbed her phone from atop the dressed and swiped the unlock. _3 new messages… Nick… Dad, and…_ The last number wasn't in her contacts and she didn't recognize it. She opened the message from Nick, and smiled.

' _Good morning Snowflake. Heading to precinct with Carrots. I'll swing by later. Might bring pie.'_

She set the phone down a moment, stretched, yawned, and stood up. She slipped out of her night gown, then picked her phone back up and replied, _'Make it coconut cream, and I just might have to keep you. XOXO ;)'_

With a smile, she set her phone back on the dresser and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Any message from her dad would be more tolerable _after_ a shower.

* * *

Five lines into writing up his report for their investigation over the weekend, Nick had started to doze off and had to get up to walk around. _These early mornings are killing me…_

Judy had insisted they go on a run together three days a week, and they'd settled on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So going against his very nature as a fox, he'd been up at the crack of dawn to jog with a bunny. Then it was 0730 in the bullpen, 0800 the Chief had wanted to see them in his office, their update had taken twenty minutes during which Judy told Bogo _almost_ everything about the weekend investigation (leaving out the part about Nick staying in Nelle's apartment Saturday night), then they'd finally been allowed to go get breakfast, and right when they got back to the station to sit down and write their official reports, Delgado was at the door dragging a cuffed bull through the doors for processing. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the perp was throwing a tantrum and ended up kicking Nick's full cup of coffee out of his hand and right into the lion's mane. That earned him Delgado's 'best behavior'.

 _And now I need more coffee._ Looking up from his barely-started report, he leaned across the desk and murmured to Judy, "Hey, Carrots, I'm gonna slip out for a few. Cover me?"

"I'll let you know if bullets start flying," Judy answered dryly, not looking up from her own report, which he noticed was almost finished.

Fortunately, there was a coffee shop half-a-block from the station, and their stuff was at least decent. It didn't take him long to leave the station and walk down the street to the little café. While he was waiting for his drink, his phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. _One new message… Nelle._ _Well, at least there's one good thing this morning._ He unlocked the screen and opened the message, and his smile spread into a wide grin. _'Yes, ma'am.'_ He texted back, then slipped his phone back into his pocket and took the coffee that had just been set on the counter for him. He gave the barista an extra buck and went back to Precinct One.

When he got back, he saw Judy had finished her report and was tidying up her desk. "I'll never get how you get those down so fast…" Nick murmured, sitting down and taking a sip of his coffee. "Don't suppose you could write mine, too? It's basically the same report."

"I'm afraid no, Slick. Chief knows my handwriting." She walked around to his side of the desk and looked over his partial report. "It's not literature, Nick. Try writing third-person plural. Say 'we' a lot."

"Gee Carrots, thanks for the help," Nick remarked flatly, rolling his eyes.

"You know you love me," Judy countered, grinning up at him.

"Do I know that?" When he was about to answer, his phone buzzed. He cast a mischievous glance at Judy, then made a show of taking his phone out, taking a long drink of coffee, and checking the new text. He spat his coffee out.

' _Just got out of the shower. New shampoo. My fur feels so soft now!'_

He looked up at Judy, whose impatient glare had been replaced by barely suppressed snickers. "Hot date tonight?"

"Oh yeah, a real handful, this one," he mumbled, jabbing his finger at the keyboard. _'Not fair.'_ "Actually, probably just some pie. Think I'll rent a few movies on the way to her place."

"Well, good luck then. With Nelle, _and_ with your report. I'll see you later, Slick." She grinned, and walked off to bring her own report to Bogo before leaving the building.

His phone buzzed. Nick was a little hesitant about opening it this time, but after a little consideration, checked the newest message. _'You know you love me. XO'_

* * *

The teasing texts to Nick were a very welcome reprieve from her other conversation of the day. Her father had wanted to know why she'd decided to show up at Martin's office, unannounced, without consulting him about it first. She knew how Martin was about surprise visitors, after all, and he hadn't even wanted her to take him on as a client in the first place. It was too close to home, he said. She'd known the Jacks family pretty much all her life; Martin was like an uncle to her, Robert had practically been a brother growing up. Granted, they hadn't spoken in years before his disappearance, but her dad still claimed there was too much of a chance for her to get emotional over the case.

Eventually, he had apparently grown tired of trying to convince her over texts that she should drop the case and leave it to the police, so he called her. She actually glared at her phone a moment while she considered whether to answer it. Finally, she growled and hit 'accept'. "What?" she asked, probably a little more sharply than intended.

" _And what kind of a way is that to answer the phone, Fenella?"_

"And what kind of a way is that to try to stay on my good side, _Dad_? You know I hate that name."

" _Your mother didn't."_ True enough. It had even been her mother's middle name.

"Ouch, low blow. You're right, Dad, mom didn't hate my name. She just left me with it as a constant reminder of her."

" _Nelle, you shouldn't talk like that."_

"I shouldn't? You could've fooled me. You sure as hell like to bring it up."

" _Nelle, I didn't call you to argue about your_ name _."_

"No, you called to argue about my _job_. You called because you still think I'm your little girl to protect. You called because you want me to let Nick and Judy take care of Rob's case without me."

" _Nick and Judy…?"_

"The cops, Dad. They're the ones helping me with it. And Nick is… Uh…" She paused, and shook her head. _Not the best time to tell him about that…_ "Nevermind. I'm not dropping the case."

" _Nelle-"_

"I'm _not. Dropping. The case._ Now stop calling me." She heard some response coming through the speaker, but hung up without catching any of it. She set her phone on her desk and reached up, rubbing her temples while she worked to steady her breathing.

She honestly wished she couldn't remember the last civil conversation she'd had with her father. But she could, she remembered every word of it, and it seemed so long ago now. She looked at the calendar hanging on the wall of her small office, and frowned. She even remembered the date. _Almost three years now…_ It had been the day before she found out her father had taken a new mate, a week before he'd remarried. _How had he even kept that a secret from me?_ It had felt like such a betrayal to her mother when she found out. She knew it wasn't fair to think that way. Her mother was gone, there was no changing that.

She picked up her phone and opened the text conversation with Nick. _'Addendum. Bring wine.'_

A few moments later, a return text came in. _'Anything specific?'_

She thought for a moment, then replied, _'Cabernet. Anything put in a big bottle when you were a kit.'_

' _On it.'_ His text came back almost immediately, and it made her smile. _You take such good care of me…_

The sudden sound of her door opening brought her attention up from her phone. Her visitor was-… "Judy!" she exclaimed in genuine surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I… Chief Bogo has us off patrol until we close out this case. So… I had nothing to do today and… Thought if you were gonna be looking into those files from Robert's story, I could help you out? If that's okay, I mean?"

Nelle looked down at the nervous bunny with interest, and chuckled softly. "You're too cute, Judy," she murmured. The bunny, of course, bristled a little at the word, but this time said nothing about it. "Yes, you can help. I'd be more than glad for the company. Literally the only conversation I've had all day that wasn't over the phone was explaining the cab driver that I'm spoken for." Not that the skunk would've had a chance at her anyway… But it was nice to have a solid, foolproof reason for her rejection. She preferred to let them down easy when she could.

"Oh, yeah, Nick said he'd been texting you. What'd you send that made him spit his coffee anyway?"

Nelle giggled, and covered her muzzle with a paw. "He spit out his coffee from that? All I said was I was trying a new shampoo." Not the _exact_ words she'd used, but close enough to the truth.

Judy paused and sniffed the air, and smiled brightly. "It smells nice."

"Thanks, Judy," Nelle replied, pulling a chair up to the desk for Judy. She went to the little water cooler in the corner and filled two plastic cups. "Here's the files I got from the Times office," she remarked when she returned to the desk. The file had been the centerpiece of the tabletop all morning. "Nick told me you're crazy good at making connections… I've got a knack for retaining information, but I don't always know exactly what to _do_ with that information. So…" She pulled a few papers from the file and laid them out before Judy. "Let's see what you've got."

* * *

It was 6:48, and the sun was getting low when Nick got to the Tundratown apartment tower. With coconut cream pie, a big bottle of red wine, two rented DVDs and a small bouquet. Judy had texted him with a suggestion for that last bit. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the building. The squirrel desk clerk seemed to recognize him from last time, because before he could even say way he was there, the elevator buzzed and the door opened. Nick gave the squirrel a questioning glance, and she rolled her eyes and waved him toward the lift. With a shrug, Nick got in and punched the button for Nelle's floor. _Was it this slow last time?_ He wondered. He couldn't recall. Last time he'd been drunk and Nelle had been laughing at one of his cheesy jokes.

With a faint _ding_ , the door opened on Nelle's floor, and he walked down one hall, took a left down Nelle's hall, and stopped in front of her door. Shifting his load so most of it was in his left paw, he lifted his right and knocked. A few seconds passed before he heard the shuffling of feet and the door opened. Piercing blue eyes regarded him up and down, and a smile spread across Nelle's lips.

And then, without warning, she took a long step forward and brought her arms up around Nick's neck. Before he had time to react- before he even had time to think- her muzzle pressed against his. It took him a few seconds to get his bearing, but once he did, his eyes closed, his mostly-free right paw reached around her, and he met her kiss. _She smells good…_ he thought to himself. _New shampoo…_

When she finally pulled back, Nelle smiled sheepishly up at him, and Nick grinned. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

Nelle laughed, and answered with another kiss, this one not quite as long as the first. "That one was for the wine. The first one was for the pie. And this one-" She grinned and lifted up on her toes to press her lips against his once more, before stepping back and slipping her arms back off his shoulders. "That one was for being the best damn thing I've seen all day. Now get in here and let's see what the flowers get you."

* * *

 **Post A/N; I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Took my time planning how to perfectly lead into the last scene, with Nick and Nelle's first (three) kiss(es). Now I can happily write their way into the meeting with Mr. Big, where you'll find out what the Shrew has to tell them, and what Judy was able to work out from the files from Robert's desk.**

 **Also, I'm planning on writing a little Christmas special involving Nick and Nelle, to take place a while after the case is closed. I'll keep it relatively spoiler-free (you don't get to know all my sneaky little plans yet), just a sweet little one-shot bit of holiday fluff for the romantics out there. ;)  
I'll hopefully have it all typed out sometime tomorrow night, and it'll be released separately from the main story.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Coffee

 **A/N; Hey, really sorry it's been so long since my last update. Real life hit me like a train, and I've been ridiculously busy, with almost no time to spare. I've finally got a couple hours free, so I'm gonna sit down and write some stuff out.**

 **Now, for the story. Picking up Tuesday morning. Recap from the previous night; After showing up at Nelle's apartment with pie, movies, wine and flowers, the couple enjoyed the night and took the time to unwind on the couch, drinking and watching movies and getting very cuddly. They didn't talk much; Nelle just wanted to forget about the majority of that day. When it got late, Nick got a Zuber ride home. I'm also introducing another OC with a big part in the story. When James shows up, please imagine him as having the voice of Jay Baruchel. It just fits best. ;)**

* * *

When Nick's alarm woke him, he immediately regretted that he hadn't thrown it out the window after his last night of heavy drinking. That was, what… A month ago? No, more than that… Either way, he'd be a much happier fox that morning if the damn thing was in at least three more pieces. Noticing a small, blinking light in the corner of his phone screen, though, he was glad he'd put _that_ on vibrate, at least. He swiped it off the bedside table and unlocked it, and was at least somewhat pleased to see Nelle had already sent him a good morning text. _A pair of foxes, both up by 7… Defying nature, one sunrise at a time._

Curious, he opened the text. It was short and simple. _'Hung over. You?'_ Of course, that brought his mind to it, and a wave of dull pain swept between his ears. _'A little.'_ He texted back, then groaned, stretched and stood up. When he flicked the light switch, he groaned again and quickly covered his eyes. Even the dim bulbs preferred by nocturnal mammals seemed harsh in his condition.

Tired and bleary, Nick staggered out to the kitchen, his first priority to load the coffee maker and get it brewing. Once he'd accomplished that, he opened the fridge, groaning again when the door light hit his eyes. _What have I got?_ He asked himself. _Not much…_ He concluded after a brief sweep. He'd forgot to go to the store yesterday. Well… He'd gone to the store, but it'd been for pie and wine and flowers.

 _That'll work, though._ With a small grin, he grabbed out a pack of blueberry yogurt, then a box of chocolate cereal. He grabbed a bowl and a spoon, and went to the table to spend the next thirty seconds layering cereal and yogurt in the bowl. _Voila… Bachelor parfait._ He sat down and took a few bites, chewing slowly while waiting for his coffee to finish.

With the realization that he'd be waking up near enough to dawn almost every morning for the majority of the foreseeable future, Nick had made it an urgent priority to get a good, fast-brewing coffee maker. In just a few minutes, he had enough for a full cup, with more on the way. As he filled his mug, the amazingly satisfying aroma drifted up to greet him, sharp and strong to his vulpine olfactory. The steam rising off the surface was a thing of beauty, and when he lifted the cup to his muzzle and took that first sip, the piping hot beverage, heavily laden with all its essential caffeine, poured down and filled his body, driving away fatigue and hangover alike.

And just as he returned to his seat at the table, his phone started to vibrate. A picture of a beautiful, smiling arctic vixen lit up the screen. He'd taken the picture at Koslov's Palace, shortly after their meeting with the owner. He swiped to accept, and lifted the phone near his ear. "Good morning, Snowflake."

" _Mmm… Hi, Nick,"_ Nelle purred through the phone.

"For being hungover, you sure sound pretty content," he observed, and took a slow sip of his coffee.

" _Yeah… Still in bed. Not getting out anytime soon, if I can help it… Just… Woke up and really wanted to hear your voice."_

"Feeling pretty affectionate, huh?" Nick gave a grin that part of him knew she couldn't see.

" _Something like that. My own personal defense mechanism… For waking up after a lot of wine. You can call me clingy."_

"You're clingy," he agreed almost immediately. He waited a moment before adding, "I like it." For that, he was rewarded with her sweet laughter. And then, a light banging sound. That didn't come from the phone, though.

" _Someone at the door?"_ Nelle asked. _How had she even heard that…?_

"Uh… Yeah, I think so."

" _Well… You should probably answer it, right?"_

"…Maybe."

Nelle laughed again and said, _"Go ahead, you can get the door. I'm not going anywhere."_

"I'll hold you to it," Nick assured her, then stood up and went to answer the door. As it swung open, he found himself face-to-face with a near mirror image of himself, only slightly taller, wearing a worn 'Cat Scratch Fever' t-shirt under a black jacket that had probably once been really nice, but was now faded and frayed. This attire was accompanied by blue jeans ripped at the knees, and a straw fedora. Nick froze, stared for a few seconds, then leaned into the phone and murmured, "I'll call you back, Snowflake."

There was a pause from the other end of the line. Then Nelle's voice came back with a slight edge of concern, asking, _"Is everything okay?"_

"Yeah, yeah, it's all good, just… Saw a ghost or something." He ended the call and lowered his hand to his side.

"What, I'm out of town a few days and suddenly I'm dead?" the badly-dressed reflection asked with a mischievous grin.

"Jim… It's been _ten years,"_ Nick told the other fox.

James Wilde's eyes went wide and he leaned back, as if this were some deep, enlightening news or a startling revelation. "Damn, really… _Ten_ years? Shit, time flies when you're having a bad time, huh? But hey, it's not like I didn't tell you exactly where I was going, right?"

"You didn't," Nick deadpanned.

"Oh, right, I kinda just up-and-left, didn't I?" James chuckled, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "But hey, you're still allowed to invite me in, right? Sounded like a lady friend on the phone, so you _probably_ don't have one in there. Unless…" He paused, eyeing his brother curiously. "You're not taking pages from my book, right?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Nick answered flatly, stepping aside to allow the very-slightly taller fox in.

"Good, 'cause I think there's laws about that. Copyright infringement or something like that. I smell coffee," James remarked with a wide grin and made a bee-line for the coffee maker. "Cups, cups…" He started shuffling through cupboards until he found one with a few dishes. "Bingo!"

Nick returned to his seat at the table and took a few bites from his twice-interrupted breakfast, watching his brother pour himself a cup. Over the years, he'd almost forgotten how much James could talk. Growing up, the pair had been inseparable, and could talk their way out of _almost_ anything, as long as their mother didn't find out. They'd earned themselves the nickname 'Silver-Tongued Twins'. The main difference was that James' tongue almost never stopped wagging.

"I actually got in last night," James remarked, pulling out another chair for himself. "Problem was, I actually had no idea where you live. But I remembered a little while back hearing about one 'Nicholas Wilde' being the first fox cop. So, I grabbed a hotel room, and when I woke up I went to ZPD and asked about you. Hell, big cheetah you've got there thought I _was_ you for a moment, asked why I came in so early. Like… 6:30, I think. So, I told him I was actually _not_ Nick Wilde, but looking for him. Guess he could tell the family resemblance, 'cause he gave me your address. But damn, it was _weird_ being in that place again, especially without having to be bailed out. Pretty sure they haven't changed a thing."

"Yeah? Imagine working there," Nick countered. Though, to be fair, Nick had never been brought there in cuffs. "What brings you back to the big city, anyway?"

"A bus packed to the brim with beautiful, unmated vixen," James joked, and grinned when his brother rolled his eyes. "But I'm guessing you're more interested in the 'why'."

"You'd win money on that bet."

"Well, I can't tell you," James answered simply. When Nick let out a frustrated groan and started to raise, James quickly lifted his hands up, and added, "Not for about… Two weeks. Maybe two-and-a-half."

After a moment's pause, Nick settled back into his seat. He went for another sip only to see the words 'NEED MORE COFFEE' printed on the bottom of his cup. As he got up refill it, he asked, "Don't suppose I'd gain anything asking why it'll take two-and-a-half weeks to explain why you're here?"

"You'd win money on that bet," James repeated Nick's line. "Though, it could be more like three…" His grin widened at the sight of Nick's exasperated frown, and added, "Would I be a proper Wilde if my return wasn't for some crazy complex reason that takes four weeks to make sense?"

"Four?" Nick echoed.

"Well, yeah, it might take up to four weeks to figure it all out. But no more than five, I'm sure…" James paused, took a moment to appear contemplative, then stated, "Actually, it might be as many as six…"

"Jim, why does the number keep going up?"

"Because it bugs you each time it does, of course," James answered, his whole routine paying off perfectly with the growl Nick let out. "But seriously, it _will_ take some time before I can really explain why I had to come back."

A few deep breaths and a long sip of coffee passed the time before Nick could muster the patience to ask, "And how long, exactly, will it _actually_ take?" He was starting to understand how Bogo must feel talking to him.

To this, James gave a simple shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine, really."

* * *

The sign above the door read 'The Winter Brush Café', with painted green shrubbery all along the bottom and sarcodes along the sides. It was a quaint little place, with a fenced off outdoor area for arctic mammals to enjoy a warm beverage in the cool Tundratown air. It also had plenty of seating inside, for the non-arctic customers. None of this seating was occupied, because a sign on the door read, 'Closed for Private Function'.

Assuming that he was part of that private function, Nick simply walked through the door and fixed the female bobcat standing at the host's podium with a bright smile.

"I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to come back another-"

"Oh, no worries, Mr. Big is expecting me here. Nick Wilde?"

The bobcat's demeanor changed immediately, she took on a cheery smile, and said, "Oh, Mister Wilde, of course! Right this way."

Hands in pockets, Nick followed the bobcat who seemed to be the only employee on-duty today, apart from maybe the cook, thus making her both hostess and waitress. They went straight through to the back of the café, where a large table had been set up with four places. One of them was already occupied by a small, gray bunny in a blue button-up shirt.

"Should've figured you'd be extra early, Carrots," Nick remarked as he took an empty seat. "Coffee, thanks," he added to the waitress before she could even ask if he'd like a drink. He'd prepared a little extra coffee that morning to combat his hangover, but then James had shown up and drank half of it, so he still needed a cup or two more. As the waitress went to get his drink, his phone buzzed and he checked it quickly. "Nelle says she just got in a cab. She's not far; Just a few minutes away."

"Good. I was starting to think at least one of you was gonna be late. I've been here ten minutes, just in case."

"Really, Carrots? Just in case? You're little Judy's godmother, you could show up a half-hour late drunk off your ass and Mr. Big would ask if traffic was bad."

"Nick, you _know_ that's not true," Judy rolled her eyes. "And I don't drink, so… Speaking of which," she added when Nick took off his sunglasses, "You alright, Slick? You're looking a little… Bloodshot."

Nick grinned and answered, "Movie dates are great, the morning after not so much. Spent the better part of the morning dealing with a bad hangover. And family."

"Family? Did you end up at your dad's last night or something?" Judy was genuinely curious. She knew his relationship with his parents hadn't been great over the last few years, until last Friday when he'd needed a suit. He'd told her on Monday that things were better with his dad, but hadn't really expanded much upon that.

"Oh, uh… No, not my dad." Nick chuckled, and rubbed the back of his head. "My little brother Jimmy showed up at my door this morning. He's been kinda… Traveling here-and-there for a decade. Life as a vagabond, or something like that. And he's been pretty weird about it, won't really say what's got him back in Zootopia." His coffee arrived, and he thanked the bobcat before taking a long, slow sip, closing his eyes and sighing in relief as the drink poured down.

"You never told me you had a brother," Judy remarked curiously, leaning forward on the table a bit.

"Never came up," Nick replied with a shrug. "He skipped town ten years ago and since then I've had no idea where he was, had no contact, just a regular paym- uhmm…" Oops. "Well, it never came up."

"What was that about payment, Slick?" Judy asked with a smirk. She knew she'd caught him slipping.

"What? I didn't say payment."

"You were gonna." The smirk widened.

"I… Fine, whatever. Ten years back, last time Jim was in Zootopia, I lost a pretty big bet and ended up having to put a deposit in an account for him once a month. Not like bribe money or anything like that, just… Well, traveling the world costs money, ya know?"

Grinning triumphantly, Judy sat back in her seat. "And now I know what happened to all that money you claimed to make."

"Sly bunny."

"Dumb fox."

"Hey, did I miss anything?" another voice came from nearby.

Nick looked up into the smiling face of his vixen, and gave a grin. "Nothing critical to the case, I promise. How long were you there?"

"I got in right about when you started talking about payments and losing a bet. Wouldn't have thought that was possible," she remarked with her own smirk, and leaned down to give him a quick peck on the cheek before taking the seat next to him and also asking for a cup of coffee. "You two have the cutest banter, by the way. So who do you make these payments to?"

"My brother, Jimmy," Nick answered. "Got into town last night."

"Oh! Is that who was at the door? You should've told me!" Nelle smiled brightly, crossing one leg over the other. "I didn't even know you had a brother. Is he cute?"

"Nelle…"

"What? I've got a friend who heard I caught myself a perfect fox, and now she wants me to hook her up."

"Don't think he's who she'd be looking for."

"Why not?" Nelle asked with a little pout which Nick thought was way cuter than it should be allowed to be. "Come on, if he's your brother, he'd gotta be a looker."

"He's poly, Nelle."

"Oh! Oh, then… I'll, uh… Let my friend know to keep looking," Nelle stammered, and giggled softly.

"I'm sorry… What?" Judy cut in. She had a look of utter confusion on her face. "What's poly and why does it make him a bad choice to date?"

"Polyamorous," both foxes stated in unison, and after the two shared a quick grin, Nick continued. "Like I told you before, typically foxes mate for life. Most of us, when we find 'the one', that's it and there's no one else. A few foxes… Well, a growing number, I guess… Veer away from that standard. Jimmy's one of them. So if a vixen who wasn't poly got with him, it could only end badly for her, 'cause I've seen no indication yet that he ever plans to settle down."

This explanation did a little toward helping Judy understand, but not much. For a bunny who'd grown up around thousands of other bunnies, it was nearly incomprehensible. Sure, generally bunnies _did_ eventually settle down with one mate, but that didn't stop them from having some fun in the meantime. Slowly, her gaze shifted from Nick, to Nelle, back to Nick, and with a frustrated sigh, she just shook her head and said, "Foxes are weird."

Just then, the bobcat returned to the table and stated, "Miss Vox, Mister Wilde, Miss Hopps. Mr. Big has arrived."

* * *

 **Post A/N; And there it is, my first update in weeks. Sorry, again. Next time we'll (finally) get to the lunch with Mr. Big, because I can't think of any way or even any reason to delay it further.**

 **Now! What did you think of James Wilde? I really hoped you like him, because I've already started writing his own story! That's right, you'll all get to read about the polyamorous fox in his ten years of wandering away from Zootopia! (Contrary to my typical writings, it will be rated M because smut. Just a heads up. But it won't be all smut, in fact that'll be kind of a background feature for most of the story, it will be a genuine adventure, and it should, in the end, blend seamlessly into James' appearance in this story.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! Really sorry for the WEEKS of waiting for this, and the shortness of the update! Was meant to have a second part, but I ran out of time to write it. However, I finally got my new pc set up and got LibreOffice downloaded, so I should be able to update regularly again! =D (Update to my other story, Wilde at Large, is next on the docket)**

Chapter 11: The Big Meeting

* * *

"Good afternoon, I hope you didn't wait too long?" Mr. Big greeted as the massive polar bear carried him to the table and set him down in a miniature chair the bobcat provided. Nick noted that the polar bear was not Koslov, as it had been for years, but rather Kevin. "Sit, please," Mr. Big added, having noticed the others in the room had stood for his entrance.

"No, we didn't have to wait long, thanks," Nick answered for the group. "Well, Judy did."

"No I didn't!" the bunny countered, glaring at her partner, who was grinning down at her. "I mean it, I was here just a few minutes before Nick and since then we've… Uh..." She cut off, blinking in surprise at the bout of laughter from the shrew.

"Judith, you've no need to worry about my sensitivities, they are very few and very specific," Mr. Big explained. "That goes for you too, Nick, and Miss Vox as well."

"Um… Just 'Nelle', please," the arctic vixen requested. She shifted the coffee cup in front of her slightly, then slid it back to its original position, before realizing she should do something more with the cup than just moving it on the table. She took a quick sip, and set it back down, before nervously addressing the crime boss. "Mr. Big… If I may, could I ask what you have to tell us about the missing mammals?"

"In time," Big answered calmly, and turned to the bobcat waitress to request a cup of tea. "Earl Grey, cream, no sugar. You know how I like it." The bobcat nodded quickly, and retreated back to the kitchen, past Kevin who had taken a place by the back door.

"Angela is a good girl," the shrew stated once the waitress had left. "Soft-spoken, a bit on the shy side, but loyal almost to a fault. You need not worry about what you say around her, I known her since she was a kit. Her… Late father was a business associate and a close personal friend." Big leaned back in his tiny chair, elbows resting on the arms with his fingers laced together. "I hope you don't mind, Nelle, but I've just spent my whole morning talking business, and would prefer some friendly chat while we eat. We can discuss your case afterward. There'll be plenty of time to act on the information I give you, no need to worry."

"I… Yes, ah, thank you… Mr. Big," Nelle replied hesitantly. It was clear she was still very nervous about talking with the city's biggest mafia boss, their meeting in the office of Koslov's Palace notwithstanding.

"Good to see you, Kevin," Nick called to the polar bear by the door, whose response was to look to Nick and nod with a little smirk. The fox turned to Big and remarked, "Interesting to see you escorted by… Well, anyone but the big guy."

"Koslov is very busy with the management of his new club," Mr. Big replied. Angela came out of the kitchen then with a very small kettle and an even smaller cup on a tray, and set them in front of Mr. Big. The shrew thanked her, and she retreated back to the kitchen. "Kevin has been with my organization more than long enough to be trusted, and in the last few weeks has stepped up to the plate rather effectively." He poured his first cup of tea and added a splash of cream, stirred it and took a sip. "Judith," he remarked as he brought the cup down, "it's been a while. How have you been?"

"Good, good," Judy answered cheerfully, giving the shrew a bright smile. "I, uh… I meant to visit Fru-Fru the other day, but… Well, we kind of got caught up in this case. If we get the time, I'd love to stop in to see Little Judy."

"Of course," Mr. Big stated. "My door is always open to you. And your family, how have they been?"

"Well, uh… I call my parents twice a week, they're doing great. I was gonna take some vacation time this week to visit the Burrow, but now that's gotta wait, I guess. I'll have _definitely_ earned the time off once we close this, though."

The bell above the kitchen door rang, and Angela came out, expertly balancing two trays on one arm. With the other, she grabbed a folding stand and set it up next to the table so she could set one tray on it and serve out the food. The first dish- a small bowl of roasted snails- went to Mr. Big, then Angela moved around the table. Judy was given a garden salad of fresh greens, cherry tomatoes and baby carrots with raspberry vinaigrette; Nick got a grilled salmon fillet with lemon pepper; and Nelle was served a crab salad. Angela stepped back from the table, gave a short bow, and retreated once more.

"That's very good to hear," Mr. Big stated once Angela had left, and picked up a snail, using his claws to pull the meat from the shell. Normally a shrew would use their long snout for such a task, but that was typically considered bad manners, particularly with prey species at the table. "Family is the most important connection that exists. There is no stronger bond than that between loved ones. Speaking of which-" He turned to Nick this time, and observed, "I recognized the workmanship of your suit, the other night at the Palace. Koslov relies almost exclusively on John Wilde for his tailoring needs. Might I assume that you've begun to repair ties with your family, Nick?"

"Oh, well… Yeah, kinda..." Nick chuckled, recalling his brother's sudden appearance that morning. "Mom wants us all to meet for dinner on Friday. It'll be at their house. I'll have to convince Jimmy to come along, too."

"Jimmy?" Mr. Big asked, then thought about it a minute. "Your brother, James? I thought he was traveling?"

"He was," Nick answered. He usually didn't tell people about his brother, mainly because it simply never came up. When he'd worked for Big, though, the shrew had insisted on learning about Nick's family. It was something he talked about with all his employees. "Guess he got into town last night, swung by the precinct to find out where I lived. Showed up this morning and drank half my coffee," Nick added with a grin, taking another sip from his cup.

"And your sister?" Big pulled the meat from a second snail and popped it into his mouth.

"Sam's still in Mamphis, if her Fuzzbook feed's any indication. She comes home every once in a while, but for the most part she's happy there."

"Well, she should be where she's happy," Mr. Big stated, and turned to the arctic vixen. "And you, Nelle? Tell me about your family, if you will?"

Nelle paused, her fork in the middle of spearing a lettuce leaf. She looked down at her salad, and for a little while was silent. Nick, sensing her distress, reached over and put a hand on hers. When she looked up at him, he gave her a soft smile and said, "Don't worry, you're among friends."

She returned his smile, then looked to the shrew and answered, "I… I'm an only child." She waited as the others around the table gave their surprised stares. She'd anticipated that. Foxes always bred in litters; for one to not have any siblings typically could only mean one thing. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and hesitantly continued. "My mother… Contracted a rare vulpine disease during pregnancy. When my litter was born, it was passed to my siblings… I got lucky." She took a deep breath, then continued. "None of the others lasted a year. My mother carried on until I was twelve."

For a while, there was silence at the table. All eyes were on Nelle. The white-furred fox looked from one to the next, then shook her head and smiled softly. "Sixteen years is a long time to move on. I'm fine." As if to prove this, she took a bite from her salad. "As for my dad, I don't talk to him much. I'd really rather not go into details as to why." She cast Mr. Big a pleading look, hoping he wouldn't pry further.

The shrew, understanding her unspoken plea, took a sip of tea then spoke to the group at large. "Now then, I feel we've sufficiently spent our idle chat. It's past time we discuss what you're really here for." He turned and looked to Kevin, and gave a nod. The polar bear approached the table, pulled out an envelope from inside his jacket and set it on the table in front of Nelle.

"Those are the employee files of six of my workers," Big stated as Nelle opened the folder and looked through it. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you, the positions listed in their actual jobs. Each of them has, over the last few months, disappeared. After the first two, I started placing trackers on all prey-species employees."

He finished his cup, then refilled it, speaking while he stirred in more cream. "With three of them, the trackers were found during transit and discarded before reaching their destination. The last, though, agreed to extreme measures. His tracker is sub-dermal, and was not detected. We were able to follow it to a warehouse in the Nocturnal District."

"So we-" Nick started, but was cut short when the Shrew raised a hand.

"A raid on the warehouse would yield insubstantial results," Mr. Big stated. "We've had surveillance on it for nearly a month now. It's only used as a temporary holding site. Throughout the week, vans are brought in, and cages are unloaded. Once the vans are empty, they leave. But every Thursday night, between 11pm and 4am, a truck comes in and the caged mammals are loaded in. The truck, once full, leaves the city. We've been unable to discover where it goes from there, but you may have more luck. Follow the truck, and you'll likely find your missing hare."

"It's about more than just the hare now," Judy stated, determination clear in her eyes. "Someone's taken _dozens_ of mammals right off the streets. There should be a city-wide alert, but somehow they've been able to keep this quiet." She frowned, and looked to Shrew. "So… I take it you have no idea who's behind this, then?"

"No more than you, I'm afraid. It might help to ask yourself, though, _cui bono_?"

"Come again?" Nick asked, clearly confused.

"Who stands to gain?" Nelle cut in, having spent the entirety of Mr. Big's speech flipping through the papers. She looked up and added, "In Latin. If we can find out who benefits from the disappearance of all these mammals- all of them prey species, specifically- it might help narrow down the lists of suspects. But not enough to get any clear results, so we've also gotta find that truck."

Nick and Nelle both looked to Judy, who gave a nod and said, "I'll talk to the chief about setting up a stakeout."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: [Insert simple title pertaining to character development]

* * *

 **A/N- It's occurred to me that most of what I've been doing has been, more-or-less, directly pertaining to the case. And while I feel it's good to keep the story moving, advancing it regularly, I also have an appreciation for authors who can throw in a more subtle twist, take things off to the side a little, draw away from the main narrative and ease the tension a little before things get intense. And rest assured, the next few days for our trio** ** _will_** **be intense. We've reached the point in the story where great revelations will be made, villains will start to appear, and trouble will start to find our heroes.** **So without further ado, the comic relief.**

* * *

"I'm sure you looked _very_ strapping in that scout uniform, Red," Nelle jested, trailing a gentle claw along the base of his right ear. When Judy had offered to go to the Presinct to report on their meeting with Mr. Big and set up all the necessary paperwork to get their stake-out approved, the two vulpine had decided to make a day of it.

After offering Nelle a treat of ice cream and a walk through the park- which she graciously accepted- Nick had sent a quick text to his brother to ask what he was up to. Jimmy had texted back a short while later explaining that he was 'looking into some stuff', and that it would require a trip to their parents' house. Nick didn't need to know what his brother was looking into. Stopping by their parents house after a decade away would almost certainly mean he'd be there all night. Their mother would insist he stay for dinner, and their dad would offer a few beers, which Jimmy, being Jimmy, would of course accept, and thus Nick had his apartment safely to himself for the night. So after they'd reached the far end of the park, they got a cab and headed back to his home.

Nick's two months at the Academy had allowed him to save up some cash. As a cadet, he'd been making decided less than he was now as an officer, but he'd also been staying in the Academy barracks, so that money had no place to go, and when he got out he'd had a couple grand saved up. More than enough for the down payment and a couple months' rent on a decent apartment. Nelle had not yet seen this apartment, so when they got there, he let her take a look around while he took a frozen blueberry pie out and put it in the oven. They'd met on the couch to watch some old black-and-white slapstick comedy, and she'd ended up asking him why he'd decided to become an officer.

Ten minutes later, he'd finally gotten through explaining his early mindset of 'wanting to help the world', and his attempt to join the Junior Ranger Scouts. "I'm sure six-year-old you would've been very impressed with nine-year-old me in green," he remarked with a little laugh, trailing the claws on one paw through the soft fur of her tail, which she'd draped across his lap. "Unfortunately, that little escapade wasn't to be, and the rejection ultimately set the tone for the next two-thirds of my life. Then some crazy little bunny-in-blue comes along and drags me into her investigation. I mean, literally dragged, by the tie." He grinned, and rubbed his neck.

"Truth be told," he continued, "I didn't really think much of Judy at first. Naive little girl, got lucky and managed to step into her little fantasy world, with no idea what that world was really about. So… I did my best to make it harder for her. Laying the bitter truth on her didn't work, so I went along with her scheme, and helped her in all the least helpful ways I could. Thought taking six hours at the DMV to get a single plate number would break her off, but if anything it made her try _harder_. We nearly got iced _and_ chased by a nighthowler-crazed panther in the same night, but she just wouldn't stop. Honestly, I kinda started to admire her dedication. I saw in her the same thing I'd wanted for myself all those years ago. Hell, I spent so long pretending I was exactly what every fox is expected to be, I'd almost forgotten I'd once tried to be something different.

"Judy helped me remember who I really was, or at least who I'd wanted to be. I stood up to Bogo that night because I'd finally realized Judy was right. My dreams got shut down and I let them die. She didn't. She kept pushing, and we actually _solved_ the case." Nick paused, let his head drop back and closed his eyes a moment. Nelle took the opportunity to trace the bottom of his muzzle, earning a contented growl from the red fox.

"Then came the press conference," he carried on after taking a moment to enjoy the vixen's touch. "You know the one. She'd just handed me a ZPA application, the key to becoming what I'd always, deep down, really wanted to be. Then her interview shattered the whole optimistic mirror I'd been looking through. I mean, I know now that those reporters had basically baited every word she said there. As I said, she was naive. She gave exactly the interview the press wanted her to give. But at the time, I thought those words were how she genuinely felt, and it crushed me. But… Well, in the end, she surprised me again. When she showed up under the bridge I'd been calling shelter, I thought she was gonna just drag me along again. The last thing I expected was for her to admit she was wrong, and beg me to help her fix her mistake. She showed more humility there than I've shown in my life, I think. It… It moved me. And it worked. We fixed it, found out Bellweather's scheme, and… Well, you know the rest." He chuckled softly, and took a deep breath. "A little over two months later, I got my badge. Real nice, shiny one, too. I like to think it brings out the mischief in my eyes."

"That's good," Nelle remarked with a little laugh. "I like the mischief." She reached up and turned Nick's muzzle so he was facing her, and their eyes met for a moment, emerald and sapphire locked together. Nick leaned in, but just as they were about to meet, the oven started to beep. Both foxes paused, and after a moment Nick let out a dry chuckle. He gave Nelle a quick peck on the lips, then got up to get the pie out.

"So you got my story," Nick remarked as he lifted the pie out of the oven and onto a wood trivet on the counter. He pulled out a knife and cut out two slices, then pulled out two small plates to put them on. "Tell me about you. I'd like to know how exactly you came to be a private detective."

Nelle, who had been watching with eager anticipation as he took out the pie, smiled softly and shook her head. "I don't think it'll be anywhere near as fascinating as your story, but okay. Let's see..." She paused, taking her time to think about how to tell her tale, until Nick had arrived back at the sofa. She took the plate he offered her and took a bite, savoring the rich, sweet flavor, before she set the plate on the coffee table and started to speak again. "Just like you, I guess, it goes back to when I was a kid. I, uh… I have an eidetic memory, if you know what that means."

Nick's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "You can recall vivid details with precise accuracy at a glance, right?" It had seemed strange that she could glean so much from seeming to just casually flip through a case file, but that would definitely explaining.

"Exactly right," Nelle confirmed, smiling softly. "I also lean toward hyper-observance, though a few details do tend to slip past unless I really focus on something, so it's not perfect. Anyway, as a kit I practiced my talents by seeking to find the truth of pretty much everything that happened around the house. Whatever happened, I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I discovered that dad's cook was romantically involved with the girl who worked at the baker's down the street. I found out where the neighbors' boy hid the magazines he stole from his dad's 'secret' collection. And..." She took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Her eyes closed, and she kept them closed while she spoke. "I found out about my mom's condition and what it meant when I was seven. I locked myself in my room for a week, refusing to come out until dad explained to me why I was gonna lose my mom and why I couldn't have any siblings. I knew what was happening, but that only made it worse, knowing I couldn't do anything about it."

Nick sat silently through this all, watching the vixen recall a tale that must have been infinitely harder to relive than his Junior Ranger Scout experience. And he'd thought he'd had it rough growing up. When tears started to flow down through the fur of her cheeks, he moved over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You said at lunch… Sixteen years is a long time to move on. But you haven't, have you? It still hurts."

Eyes closed tight, Nelle let Nick embrace her, and leaned against him a little. Slowly, she shook her head, then gave a little nod. "It does hurt, Nick. I miss her. I'm… I'm not okay, whenever I think about it… I can't..."

"Shh, shh, easy Snowflake," Nick murmured softly. His paw came up and softly brushed between her ears, down and around to her cheeks, brushing tears away from one, then the other. For a while, he just held her there. He didn't care that their pie might get cold; he didn't care that her tears were falling onto the nice shirt his dad had given him. She needed comfort more than he needed warm pie and a clean shirt.

After a while, she did settle down, the tears slowing, then stopping, and with a soft sniff she looked up to him. Slowly, she leaned up and placed a soft kiss on the side of his muzzle. "Thank you, Nick..." she murmured quietly. "I think… You _are_ what I've been looking for, for a long time. Like me… You want to help the world, but you've had a hard time getting to where you _can_ make a difference." She placed another kiss in the same spot, then continued on. "And you're a _good_ mammal. You're better to me than anyone else has been since I moved to this city. That… That means _a lot_ to me. Thank you."

Nelle sat up straight again, though she still maintained some degree of closeness to the red fox, and wiped her cheeks with the back of her paw. "Where… Where was I?" she asked.

"Something about having an 'eidetic memory'," Nick jested.

"Right. I guess since I told you that I can't pretend to not remember..." She rolled her eyes, and gave him a coy smile. "With my memory, my parents always said I could be something very few others could. Namely, I could be anything I wanted. It became very clear, when I started digging into every mystery surrounding my life, what I wanted to be. But then, when my mother passed..." She closed her eyes again, and for a moment Nick worried that she might tear up again, but then she just took a deep breath, let it out and carried on. "After that, I sort of lost focus. I'd known it was coming, but it still shook every part of my being. I didn't think I could go on being the same person I had been. So instead of my countless investigations, I buried myself in studies, going through class after class, digging through book after book, hoping I'd find something new. The more I engrossed myself in schoolwork, the more it seemed to me that nothing I sought to do seemed like it was quite right for me.

"I became oblivious to the world around me. Nothing mattered except that I prove that no one around me was smarter than me. I had to know more than anyone else in the room, and that led to me missing some of the most obvious things. I didn't realize that a business colleague of my dad's was coming by the house more often as the years went by. I didn't notice the way my dad lingered around her. I didn't notice the way she lingered around him. I went through school, graduated top of my class, went to university. Six years into college, I opened Fuzzbook one day and saw that my dad… He'd remarried. Two months previously. And I'd known nothing about it. That was the big epiphany for me, when I realized that I was so intent on learning everything that I actually knew next to nothing."

"The big thing I felt then… It was betrayal. At first I felt that my dad had betrayed me by going around my back with his new wife. Then I felt like he'd betrayed my mom by _taking_ a new wife. Finally… I settled on the realization that _I'd_ betrayed my mom by not using the gifts she'd spoken so highly of, by wasting a decade closed off from the world. I, uh..." She chuckled and shook her head. "I dropped out of college the next day. I had a bachelors degree in criminology, an associate's in business, and I was fourteen credits shy of my second bachelors. When my dad found out, he demanded that I come home and talk to him about it. I went home. I talked to him about it. That was the first time I ever raised my voice to him. I blamed him for losing mom, for replacing her, and for letting me fall into such a state of depression. I told him I wanted nothing from him and nothing to do with him, and I left."

"And… That's when you came to Zootopia," Nick guessed. The timeline added up; She'd have been about twenty-four or twenty-five at the time, and she'd told him she'd been in Zootopia a little over four years.

"Right on the money, Red," Nelle answered. "I walked to the station and got on the first train that came through. I used what was left of my scholarship money to cover a few months rent on an apartment, and got a job at Cicero's. Took me a while to find out I got that job because the owner recognized my name. The next couple years went by pretty quick. It mostly seems like a blur now. I spent most nights serving tables. The tips there were great; Cicero's caters to the city's wealthiest mammals, after all. I think a good deal of my tips were because customers were impressed by my service. Others… Well, I think they mainly liked my… Uh..."

"Lower-tail region?" Nick cut in, providing a delicate euphemism when her explanation stalled out.

"Nick!" the arctic vixen exclaimed, giving him a playful slap on the chest. Her tone seemed more amused than scolding, especially when she asked, "Should I assume you've been checking out my 'lower-tail region'?"

"It is a very nice 'lower-tail region'," the red fox answered indirectly, grinning wide. A coy smile from the vixen met a mischievous smirk from the tod, and after a moment their muzzles came together, lips meeting in a long, tender kiss.

"Normally, I'd be put off by that kind of remark, but coming from you I think I actually kind of enjoy it," Nelle purred softly. "Anyway… For a few years I stayed at Cicero's. My life settled into more-or-less a simple routine of going to work, sleeping most of the day, and emptying a bottle of wine on the weekends. That all changed… A couple months ago, when I heard a story about our own mayor involved in some secretive predator-abduction scheme. I… Wasn't really worried about the pred-scare, to be honest. Biology classes in college had taught me enough to know that the bunny was talking out her… 'Lower-tail region', and that pretty much all of it was propaganda and a couple weeks of proper scientific studies would fix it all… What did catch my interest were stories of a fox having some part in the investigation. There were no details on exactly what the fox had done, but the reports did make clear that one 'Nicholas Wilde' had been instrumental in solving the case.

"That was what it took to remind me of _my_ childhood dream. And that was my second big epiphany, when I realized I _still_ wasn't doing what I should be. My next day off, I went to city hall and applied for a business license. It took a while to get approved, but for the first time in years, I intentionally used my surname to my benefit. The pred-scare was in full swing, but there's power in a name that goes beyond whatever power there is in fear. So once I got my license, I resigned from Cicero's and opened up my private detective firm. I also had a journalist friend of mine keep an eye out for any appearance of the mysterious Nicholas Wilde."

"A journalist friend by the name of Robert, I presume?" His conman instincts working full-swing, Nick was putting connections together just as fast as Nelle could lay out the hints.

"You presume correctly, Red," Nelle confirmed with a grin. "Martin Jacks runs one of my dad's biggest banks, and myself and Rob practically grew up together. He's almost a brother. Needless to say, he owed me a couple favors, so he agreed to keep an eye out for this fox I'd taken a sudden interest in."

"Stalker alert," Nick teased.

"Shush. As it happens, this fox _did_ make another appearance, when Mayor Bellweather was taken down. And this time there was a picture. Honestly… I wasn't impressed with it. This 'Nick Wilde' I'd heard about looked laid-back, sleazy, arrogant, self-assured and lazy." She grinned at the cry of indignation from the red fox. "But… When Robert asked if I still wanted him watching for the guy, something in me said to tell him 'yes'. I was rewarded when, two months later, Rob told me to turn on the TV to the public access channels. They had a local story going, Police Academy graduations. I didn't even know they broadcast those, but apparently some low-budget news room thinks they're valuable. I'm glad they did. The valedictorian for this graduating class of new officers was none other than Nick Wilde, first fox officer to ever grace the ranks of the ZPD. And I have to say, the change from this fox's previous news appearance was nothing short of spectacular." She slid a bit closer, and walked two claws up along his chest. "I have to say, Nick, you looked _damn_ good in blue."

"So… You spent months having your friend track my presence in the news?" Nick asked curiously. He was starting to form one last connection, but it'd take a little more digging to confirm it.

"You caught my interest, Red," Nelle murmured. It was clear she could see the gears turning in his head. She wanted to know if they'd turn the right way.

"And over the last few weeks, since you saw me in that graduation ceremony… Did you have a crush on me, Snowflake?"

"Could you blame me if I did?" She purred, one claw trailing from along the bottom of his snout, from his neck to his chin.

"Having seen myself in the mirror, that's certainly understandable," he remarked, and grinned when she rolled her eyes. "One more question, though. When you came to Buffalo Butt with this case… It wasn't coincidence that me and Judy got assigned to it, is it?"

"You caught me," Nelle admitted, confirming his theory. She closed the distance between them once more and pressed her lips against his… Just as a brief clip of a Gazelle song started playing on his phone. Judy had put that on there for her ringtone, and he couldn't find out how to change it.

"That… Might be important," Nick growled, much as he wished he could ignore it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, swiped the lock, and read what was written out loud. "Stakeout set. Meet tomorrow ZPD impound lot for briefing. 5:45 PM."

"Good," Nelle purred, grabbing the phone out of his grasp and tossing it onto the coffee table without moving an inch further from Nick. "That should be the last interruption..." Her arms reaching around Nick's neck, she pressed her lips to his once more.

It was at that moment that James Wilde entered the apartment.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Staking Out

* * *

 **A/N; Yeah, I know I left the last chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger, with James interrupting Nick and Nelle's fluff-time. If you want to know what happened with that, it'll be near the end of my Wilde At Large story (which, considering my current update schedule, will be a couple months away… Sorry, I'll try to get it in faster! =D). I feel I can't reasonably put that in here without either spoiling large parts of my other story or leaving large gaps in the conversation. So guess what? It's time for The Case of Robert Jacks to _really_ kick off.**

* * *

6:03 PM

Nick walked into the ZPD 1st Precinct impound lot, greeted with the sight- and the _smell_ \- of dozens of cars left there for weeks and months. Nearly every car used in a ZPD stake-out was taken from this lot, refurbished, sometimes repainted, with the license numbers and even the VIN temporarily swapped out just to ensure they were entirely inconspicuous.

Waiting for him in the impound lot were four other mammals. Nelle, unsurprisingly, had arrived before him. Bogo had been a bit skeptical about letting a PI in on a stake-out, but Judy claimed to have convinced him that since this was actually still Nelle's case, the vixen had every right to be there if she wanted to be. Nick knew, of course, that Nelle wouldn't miss it for the world.

The Cape Buffalo himself was also present, intent on giving the team their pre-mission briefing in person. Nick had yet to see a mission briefed by anyone other than the chief; his standing theory was that Bogo enjoyed telling his subordinates precisely what the miserable task assigned to them entailed.

In addition, a lion and lioness had been added to their team. Officer Delgato was known to everyone on the force, both by face and by feats. Having graduated top of his class five years ago, he had since dedicated his career toward providing an example of perfection. Many thought of him as a pompous oaf; Nick considered him an alright guy who just wanted to prove what he could do, and that he could do it better than most others.

The lioness was Arianna King, someone Nick knew on a more personal basis. She had been a Cadet with him during their two months at the Police Academy, and would have graduated valedictorian, had Nick's performance not slipped ahead of hers in the last two weeks to claim that honor. He knew she wasn't bitter about it, though; if anything, the fox set the bar for her to pass. Immediately after graduation, Officer King had put in an application for 1st Precinct's Tactical Division, and had been accepted within a matter of days. Since then she'd taken part in three successful Nighthowler raids and broken a large chain previously used for weapons smuggling. Her name was quickly going through the office as a 'jackpot rookie', right alongside his own.

What _wasn't_ going around the office- at least not officially- was her relationship with Delgato. During training at the ZPA, they'd been put on extensive field training exercises, for which Delgato and Judy had been sent to the Academy for three days. During that time, Arianna had been placed on the lion's training team, and in their off hours, the two had become rather close. When the cadets had received an overnight pass, released to let loose for twenty-four hours, the lioness had called Delgato the very moment she stepped out the academy doors and invited him for a few drinks. Two weeks later, on graduation night, Nick had witnessed the two officially become a couple. Still, they kept it a secret around the office- particularly around Chief Bogo- which was likely the only reason they were allowed to act on this mission together.

Judy arrived just a few minutes after Nick, and after quick introductions and the Chief's briefing, they were assigned to two vehicles and sent out. Nick, Judy and Nelle were in a small, dark green station wagon, while officers Delgato and King were in a large white van, acting as the back-up vehicle. It didn't take them long to reach the Nocturnal District, and by seven-o-clock, both teams were set up. Team 1, in the station wagon, was positioned to perfectly and discreetly watch the rear of the building. The warehouse was, quite fortuitously, situated in a spot where three roads crossed, allowing Team 2 in the van to watch both the front of the building and Team 1's car at the same time.

With both vehicles settled and four hours until the expected arrival of the truck, both teams agree that it was time to grab a bite to eat. Nick- having drawn the short straw in the impound lot earlier- stepped out and walked a block down to the nearby Surfin' Burger. The sign showed an image of a big, grinning muskrat, and boasted food for pred-and-prey alike. In Zootopia, that meant fish and veggies.

"Heard Wilde's got a thing going with that PI," the lioness in the van remarked, watching the red fox leave the little station wagon in the direction of the burger joint. She was lounging in the passenger seat, which she'd pushed back to a more comfortable position, with her hindpaws up on the dash. Behind her, Delgato sat in a spinning office chair bolted to the floor of the van, waiting for a bay of computer screens to finish booting. This van wasn't the normal case for the impound lot. It looked perfectly normal from the outside, but boasted some of the most high-tech surveillance equipment a city-appropriated budget could buy. With long-range directional microphones and 32x zoom digital cameras, and a GPS program set up to display an active feed of the traffic light grid within a five-mile radius, it was the pride and joy of ZPD's tactical division. King had been trained on it weeks ago, and Delgato had first-hand experience from a couple previous jobs he'd done with Tac.

"You 'heard', Ari?" the larger cat asked with a brief but booming laugh. "Half the precinct's heard. Hell, _I've_ heard, and you know how I am 'bout that kind of thing. Ain't you supposed to be personal friends with the guy?"

"Shut up David, you know what I meant," Arianna shot back, but when she looked back at him she had a coy smile.

"Roger that, Ma'am, shutting up," Delgato answered with a grin, giving her a salute even though he had almost five years seniority over her on the force. "But, I gotta say, that Miss Vox… You know you can't blame Wilde, falling for that one. If I were a smaller mammal..." He paused, tapping a big finger to his chin. "But then, there's Hopps..." As if taken by a sudden revelation, he slammed a fist down on the open palm of his other paw. "I got it! I should've been born a beaver! Then I'd be the perfect size to go for both of 'em!"

Arianna grabbed the first thing she could pull from her belt and threw it at him. The way he flinched when the flying metal object clipped his ear made her grin in a very satisfied way. "If you were a beaver, you'd stand pretty much zero chance of getting _this,_ you ass," she remarked, rolling onto her side in the reclined seat and extending a leg further out on the dashboard.

Delgato, observing his girlfriend doing her best to show off her body stretched out in the front seat, gulped, then looked down at the object she'd thrown at him. Slowly, he reached down and picked her handcuffs up off the floor, twirling them on one finger and giving her a grin. "Foreplay, Ari? You know you're the only cat for me."

The lioness stared a moment, then quickly turned back into her seat so he couldn't see the inside of her ears go red when she realized the implication with the handcuffs. "Ass!" she reiterated. It wasn't _fair_ for him to put those kinds of thoughts in her head. Not while they were on duty.

* * *

In the station wagon, Nelle had just finished telling Judy most of the story she'd told Nick the day before, about how she'd come to be a private investigator. She left out the bits about her early crush on Nick, but she was sure that if Judy took a close enough look at the timeline, she'd be able to put two-and-two together. This bunny was sharper than most.

"How about you?" the arctic vixen asked. "I mean, half the city knows how _you_ became a cop, you're a local hero. Any aspiration to be more, though? I think you'd make a great detective."

The bunny, lounging in the driver seat that was honestly a few sizes too big for her, looked up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking about it. Finally, she answered, "Yeah, I think… I do want to be a detective. But… Well, it's one year minimum as a beat cop before you can take the detective's exam. That's department policy. I'm just a few months away from that, since the Chief filed my initial resignation as a 'leave of absence', but Nick's barely two months in, so I think I'm gonna wait 'till he can take it, too. Then we could go for that promotion together; we make a great team, after all."

Nelle laughed softly, and remarked, "Indeed, you do. I've had the pleasure of seeing that first-hand over this last week. It's like when you get on a case together, your minds start working as one. One of you takes a clue and the other turns it into something. I'm kind of jealous of your connection, honestly."

"It grows on you," Judy stated. "When we first met… Well, he was pretty rude that time. He tricked me into helping with his con, even got me to _pay_ for it, then when I found out and confronted him he completely shut me down. I basically had to _blackmail_ him to get him to help me. Everything he gave me, he did reluctantly, and he tried to turn each lead into a way to make me give up the case. But, well… By the time we closed the missing mammals case, we'd developed a sort of… Synergy. That's just the kind of mammal Nick is. The more you work with him, the more you start to _think_ like him, see things from his point of view. It's… Weird. Scary, at first, but like I said, it grows on you." She turned and looked to the vixen seated next to her, with a soft smile. "In a way, I'm jealous that you're the girl who got him in the end. Not that I'd want to break up what you've got with him. If anything, I'd encourage that to grow, because I'd love to see where it ends up with you two. It's just..." Judy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she let it out her smile grew. "You've gotta know you made the best catch in all of Zootopia. And from the sound of things, Nick did the same."

The vixen, for her part, was caught momentarily speechless. She was so unaccustomed to this sort of praise, that for a while she had no idea what to say. Her mind reeled, her bright blue eyes wide as she regarded the bunny. Then she smiled wide, and abruptly leaned over the car's center console and embraced Judy in a tight hug. "Judy," she murmured, "you're amazing. If anyone tells you different, take those crazy bunny legs and kick them in the chin. And..." She pushed back a little, leaving her paws on the bunny's shoulders. "I _know_ you'll be a hell of a catch yourself, when the right guy comes along."

* * *

"David, stop it," Arianna said, swatting away the paw that was creeping up her arm, though she did it with a giggle. "We're on the job, remember?"

"Sure, I remember," Delgato answered. His paw moved slowly, carefully, until he was able to trace a half-extended claw across the base of her ear, earning a shiver. "I'd prefer _not_ to remember for a little bit. Got a couple hours 'til showtime, right?"

"David..." Ari purred faintly, then looked back at him and put on her best frown. "The time the truck is _expected_ to show up isn't the point. We're here to watch a warehouse, not shake a van." When she saw the hurt look on the lions face, though, she gave a frustrated sigh, then looked back up at him with a sweet smile. "Tell you what, if you can behave for the duration of this mission, I'll wake up in _your_ bed tomorrow," she offered.

"Hey, can I get in on that?" came another voice, right before the van's side door slid open to reveal a red fox with two big paper bags and a ridiculous grin.

"N-Nick!" the lioness exclaimed, throwing herself back into her seat, trying to hide from the view of both males. "How… How long were you listening?"

"That's for me to know and you to worry about, Princess," the fox answered, his grin widening even more. He handed one of the bags to Delgato and added, "Got your fish tacos. How you can ask for tacos at a burger joint is beyond me, but there ya go." When the lion reached over to take the bag, Nick murmured quietly, "Careful with this one, Fuzzball. I've seen what she can do in the ring."

"I heard that, Wilde!" Arianna shouted before the door slid shut. "No one calls _my_ lion 'Fuzzball'!"

" _Your_ lion?" Delgato asked in a low, delighted purr. He hadn't heard _that_ from her before.

Covering her face with both paws, the lioness groaned and murmured, "Oh, kill me now..."

* * *

12:29 AM

Hearing a soft voice from the front seat, Nelle shifted in her sleep, then slowly sat up. The car was entirely shrouded in darkness, but it took her just a moment to identify the voice as Judy's, talking to the team in the van over the radio, while Nick fed her information about the large delivery van that had apparently just backed up to the warehouse. The red fox was leaning forward over the steering wheel, watching out the windshield through a pair of binoculars.

"Oh, good," Nelle murmured softly, letting out a soft yawn. "I didn't miss anything exciting." She took her half-finished soda from the rear cup holder and took a sip.

"Good morning, Snowflake," Nick remarked, even though the clock showed a half-hour past midnight. "Sleep well?" Nelle couldn't tell from that angle, but Judy could clearly see the smile that spread across Nick's face at the sound of the vixen's voice.

"Well enough for a back seat nap," Nelle yawned again. She shifted into the middle seat and leaned forward over the center console, getting as good a look as she could of the truck. She could see shadowy figures moving around it, mainly between the back of it and the warehouse, where light streamed out of an open rolling door. "I was worried we'd be here all night."

"Small mercy there," Nick remarked dryly. "I count eight on the ground, plus the driver. There's a forklift in the warehouse… Five big crates loaded up so far… Make that six..." Nick relayed the information to Judy, who repeated it over the radio to Team 2.

* * *

"Wilde's got visual on the door," Arianna stated, holding the radio headset to her ear. "Hopps says they're watching crates being loaded into the truck. Eight so far, and counting. Probably missing mammals..." she added, and the thought sent a shiver down her spine. "See anything, David?"

"Not much from here..." the lion growled. At their angle to the warehouse, the cameras on the van could only catch the cab of the delivery truck. He had it zoomed to 16x with the night filter on, bathing the back of the van in an eerie green glow. "Here..." he flicked the switch on the directional mic, and faint sounds of broken conversation came over the speakers.

"-Ight….ot much….couple of….ister 'H'….few mo…." Delgato flicked it off and shook his head. It sounded like the driver in the cab was talking to someone outside the window, but at a distance of nearly 300 yards, their equipment simply wasn't enough to catch more than a few broken bits. One small part did stand out, though, and he flipped open a small notebook and wrote down 'Mister H'.

"Team 1 says the doors are closing. Four getting in the truck… One in the cab, three in the back. That makes five with the driver, the others went back in the warehouse..." A couple more minutes passed in silence, then she relayed, "Truck is moving, Team 1 moving to follow." The plan was for the team in the station wagon to tail the truck at a block's distance, with the van another three blocks behind them, tracking Team 1 via GPS.

Sliding over into the driver seat, Arianna turned the key in the ignition. The van revved to life, the headlights turned on. A red sedan pulled up alongside them, parked in the middle of the road. Her eyes went wide as all four doors opened and the mammals who'd supposedly gone back into the warehouse stepped out. "David, get down!" she shouted, throwing herself back out the passenger side door just as the crackle of automatic weapons filled the air.

* * *

"What the hell was that!?" Nick shouted when the sound of gunfire several blocks down reached them. They'd gone almost a mile so far, keeping their distance behind the truck. "Nelle, where's Team 2? Are they behind us?"

The vixen watched out the rear window, scanning the streets for something, anything. The surveillance van was nowhere to be seen. "No sight of Team 1, Nick. They're not there."

"Damnit!" Nick slammed a paw down on the steering wheel. Had they been compromised? "Judy, _please_ tell me you can reach 'em!"

The bunny was already keying in. "Team 2, this is Team 1, do you copy?" Silence. "Team 1 to Team 2, come in Team 2!" Nothing. The radio maintained a state of chilling silence. Judy switched the radio to Channel 1 and called in, "Dispatch this is Hopps, our target is moving, Team 1 is trailing, Team 2 is unresponsive."

A couple moments passed, then the radio chirped, "Confirmed Hopps, continue pursuit."

Nick growled low, his paws gripping tight around the steering wheel, claws digging into the leather.

* * *

Arianna took cover behind the van, using the front wheel and engine block to shield her from fire. The side door hadn't opened; Delgato was still inside. When she heard a break in the firing line, she pulled her tranq gun and leaned up over the hood, took three quick shots and ducked back down before another round of gunfire raked the van. This time, when the hail of bullets stopped, it was followed by the sound of four car doors and a tire squeal as the car took off.

Arianna immediately grabbed the van's side door and ripped it open, and her heart stopped when she saw Delgato on the floor, a dark pool spreading around him. In a panic, she dove in and put her paw over his muzzle, checking for pulse and breath at once. _Faint breath, erratic pulse… Shit…_ She climbed into the front seat and tried restarting the engine. Nothing. She tried again. Not a sound. The van was dead, David was bleeding out. _Shit shit shit…_ She grabbed the radio and nearly ripped it off the chord. "Break, break, break!" she shouted to clear the line. "Officer down, this is Officer King, my location is Fifteenth and Market in the Nocturnal District! Delgato's been shot!"

A moment's silence, then, "Shot? Do you mean tranq'd, or-"

"No, I mean he's been fucking shot with fucking bullets, now get a paramedic here NOW or I swear to God, Clawhauser you're gonna join him!" She slammed the mic down and jumped back into the rear of the van, covering his right shoulder where blood was pouring out. "Stay with me, David, stay with me, damnit you are NOT gonna leave me like this!"

* * *

 _Damn… Damn, damn damn damn…_ Nick was now growling deep, his eyes locked on the truck ahead of them as it sped down the tunnel that connected the Nocturnal District to Sahara Square. They'd all heard Arianna's message over the radio. Somehow, Team 2 had been found out and ambushed before they could join in the pursuit, and now they had an officer down. This operation was _not_ going like it should be, but he'd be damned if he let it be for nothing.

Halfway down the tunnel, the truck pulled off onto an access route, and Nick followed. "Where are we going?" he growled low.

Judy pulled up the car's GPS, and frowned. "Nick, this tunnel takes us _out_ of the city. We can't pursue them past city limits, it's outside our jurisdiction. We have to call it in."

"Like hell. This one is _not_ getting away!" The truck ahead of them seemed to be onto them, and sped up. Nick pushed down on the gas to close the distance between them.

"Nick, we can't leave the city! We could get fired for breaking jurisdiction!"

"See if I care."

The radio chirped to life, and the unmistakable voice of Adrian Bogo sounded through the car. "Wilde, where the _hell_ do you think you're going?"

Nick simply reached over and flicked the radio's off switch. Judy stared at the fox, eyes full of fear. She'd _never_ seen Nick acting like this.

When the access tunnel ended, the two vehicles broke out into the countryside. Rolling hills rose up around them, and stars shone down from overhead. The road drew out in two lanes, and the truck sped on at nearly reckless speeds with the station wagon just a few yards behind. A short while later, the ground broke away to the left, and they were trailing along the open coastline.

A shaft of light spread across the station wagon's windshield as the truck's rear doors swung open. Two mammals lifted what looked like a thin wire mesh between them. "What the hell… Is that a… Shit!" Nick exclaimed when the two mammals dropped the spike strip onto the rode directly behind the truck. With no way to avoid it, the station wagon rolled right over it, and four near-simultaneous bursts sounded out. Pumping the brakes, Nick fought for control, barely managing to keep the car on the road until it rolled to a stop.

Highway patrol arrived on the scene ten minutes later, but by then, the truck was long gone.

* * *

 **Post A/N; Well damn, I got it all out! I had a very clear idea in my head of _exactly_ how I wanted this night to go, and it took me way longer than it normally would to write every thing in just right. I have to say I am immensely pleased with the result, and hope you are, too.**

 **Spoiler- Delgato lives.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Morning After

* * *

Chief Adrian Bogo scanned the report for what had to be the fifth time, his expression darkening further with each line he read. Three mammals stood before him, with two of the previous night's team notably absent, which irritated him even further. Though in all honesty, he wasn't sure why Miss Vox had even insisted that she be in the room for debriefing. She wasn't one of his officers, and he'd been doing this long enough to know that no one would volunteer to stand there, not after what had brought them there.

A low rumble issued from deep in the cape buffalo's chest as he set the file down and brought a hoof up to rub the throbbing part of his brow. "What am I going to do with you three?" he groaned in a way that made the officers cast nervous glances at each other and made the PI tremble slightly. He figured he'd start with her. "Miss Vox, I believe that this is now firmly a police matter. I highly recommend you leave now."

Nelle blinked a few times, and cast a worried glance at Nick. The red fox caught her look, and gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod. The vixen reached out and gave his paw a soft squeeze before turning and heading out the door.

"As for you two..." he grumbled once the door had shut. "Your mission was to watch the sight and take note of anything that happened, and to identify and tail the truck in an effort to discern its destination _without_ breaking cover. That, Officer Wilde, is what was _supposed_ to happen. What _did_ happen was that two of my officers got caught in a firefight that left one in the hospital, and the other two, along with a _civilian consultant_ , engaged in a high-speed pursuit that took them _well_ beyond this precinct's jurisdiction. Officer Hopps, does that about some it up?" His voice was dangerously low as his gaze turned on the bunny.

"I, uhm… Yes, Sir, that seems-"

"Officer Hopps had nothing to do with our breach in jurisdiction or with my actions in pursuing the truck, Sir," Nick cut in. The buffalo's furious glare and the bunny's surprised stare turned on him simultaneously. "When the target left city limits, Officer Hopps urged me to break off pursuit and call it in. I refused. All blame lies with me."

The silence that followed dragged on far longer than Nick was comfortable with. He could see gears grinding and mashing together behind the Chief's dark eyes, and the bunny next to him was at a complete loss for words. No one did or said anything for what felt like a very long time. Finally, the massive, horned head of Adrian Bogo swiveled to once more face Judy, and he growled out, "Officer Hopps, I'm placing you on desk duty for a week. You may go."

"Y-yes Sir," Judy saluted, then turned to the door. Before she left, she took a glance at Nick. She could see a bead of sweat rolling down the fur on the back of his neck. She gulped, and stepped out of the office.

When the door closed, Nick didn't wait for the Chief to address him. He stepped up to the desk, pulled out his badge and set it down in front of the buffalo. After a moment's surprise, Bogo recovered his wrathful glare, staring down at the gleaming brass the fox had placed before him. "Wilde," he growled out at last, "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"I know my mistake, Sir," Nick stated. This was, by far, the most somber Chief Bogo had ever seen this fox act. "The mission was a complete failure, and I'm to blame. I broke jurisdiction in pursuit of the target, broke cover as soon as I heard Delgato was down, ignored the orders of _two_ of my superiors, and broke protocol when I turned off the radio. The mission was a complete failure, and because of my rash decisions, we have nothing to show for it."

Listening to Wilde's account, Bogo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He picked the badge up off the table, ran his eyes over it. The brass shield that he'd known for close to two decades now, this one engraved with the name 'Nicholas Wilde'. He had personally pinned it on the fox's chest barely two months ago. He looked up at the fox, still standing at attention before his desk, and threw the badge back at him. "Your resignation is not accepted, Officer Wilde."

"Sir?" Nick asked in surprise. So much had gone wrong last night that he'd been sure if he didn't turn in his badge himself the Chief would've demanded it anyway. He'd chosen to save his dignity. Had he guessed wrong?

"Your saving grace, Wilde, is that last night's mission was _not_ a complete failure. We've seized the warehouse in the Nocturnal District, and Precinct Four is combing through it. From the office, they've pulled some files that seem to contain _very_ valuable information. What's more, the mammals who ambushed Delgato and King have been apprehended. It seems Officer King got a few shots off, and the driver of the car hadn't realized he'd been hit with a tranq until he fell asleep at the wheel and hit a telephone pole. We had them subdued in a matter of minutes. And as for your pursuit..." Chief Bogo waited for the fox to meet his gaze, then let the faintest hint of a smile twitch at the corners of his mouth. "You did exactly what I'd have done in your place. Jurisdiction be damned if it means getting us closer to catching the criminals. Now, I've got four mammals in interrogation, and I want answers. Am I clear?"

"Sir!" Nick saluted, then turned and left the office, replacing his badge as he left. Once he was out in the hall, he quickly pulled out his phone and typed out a text.

* * *

The steady beep of the EKG heart monitor echoed off the plain white walls. Draped in a hospital gown and covered chest-high with a thin blue sheet, David Delgato slept, unmoving apart from the faint rise and fall of his chest, silent save for the soft rasp of his breath. His paws lay out to his sides, one empty, the other clasped between both paws of Arianna King.

Ari still wore her tactical division uniform, minus the ballistic vest. Her clothes were disheveled, her knees bore dark marks where she'd knelt in the blood on the van's floor, her mascara had run during a night filled with tears. She was tired. When the paramedics had told her she could meet him at the hospital, she'd told the ox driving the ambulance that they'd need to prepare another bed if they expected her to let them take him there alone. She'd sat in the hall the whole time he was in surgery, her eyes glued to the light above his door. When the light turned green, indicating the patient was in the clear, she'd felt like the whole world had been pulled off her shoulders. Since they'd told her she could go in, she hadn't left his side. She still hadn't slept.

She heard a faint _swoosh_ sound. It played in her mind, wandered around for something to connect to, but took a whole three minutes for her to register what it was. When she did, she took one paw away from Delgato's and reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone.

She had a text from Nick. _'How is he?'_

Arianna took a moment to look down at the sleeping lion, to listen to the machine keeping track of his heart rate. With one paw, she typed out a reply. 'Better. Took 4 hits. Right side. 2 arm 1 shoulder 1 neck. Surgery success. Say he should recover.' She hit _send_ , and a similar _swoosh_ indicated the message going out. A moment later, another message came. It read, _'Send a picture.'_ She frowned, confused, but then a third message read, _'It's important.'_ With a shrug, she opened the camera on her phone and snapped a picture of the sleeping lion, and sent it to Nick. She set her phone down on the bedside table, and reached up to gently brush her claws through his mane. She'd lost track of how many times that night she'd thought of what she'd do if she lost him. It was almost unthinkable, but it was the one thought she couldn't get away from.

She'd fallen for him… When? How long ago had she realized she _needed_ this lion in her life? She knew they'd made a definite collection at the Academy, when he'd supervised those field training exercises for them… But she figured it hadn't quite been concrete yet. Then on the overnight pass… She'd asked him to go for drinks. He'd told her he'd pick her up, but when he did, instead of going to a bar he took her to the pier. They'd played games, he'd won her a stuffed animal, a little lion cub that she affectionately called 'Davy'. They'd rode the teacups together, and when he dropped her back off, he'd ended the night with a kiss on the cheek. The entirety of her remaining time at the academy, she'd gone to sleep every night with the thought that she wanted _more_ than just that kiss.

Then had come graduation night. The new rookies were given a single address to go to that night, without being told why. She'd been skeptical at first, but when David saw she wasn't sure about it, he told her he'd throw her over his shoulder and carry her there himself if he had to. She'd been very tempted to take him up on that.

The address, it turned out, was a bar. The sign was shaped like a ZPD shield and read 'The Blue Line'. It turned out they had a 'Rookie Special', where they gave all new graduates a fancy glass mug with a pewter shield on it. They could get that mug filled with whatever they wanted for $3 the whole night. And they got to keep the mug at the end. Nick was already there when she arrived, and _everyone_ was buying the Valedictorian drinks. He was special, he got all the attention, but she didn't mind, because David paid for all her drinks that night. When she could barely stand, he got her in a cab and took her back to her apartment. He walked her to the door, and when she asked him to come in, he simply shook his head, and gave her what had to have been the best kiss of her life before he left. She recalled being bitter about spending that night alone, but the next day when she'd thought about it, she realized how incredibly sweet he'd been about it all. _That_ was it, she decided. That was when she'd fallen for him.

Her thoughts were interrupted again, this time by a very loud commotion out in the hall. "Get the hell out of my way!" a female voice shouted. "Where's David, damnit? You are not keeping me from my partner!"

Arianna's lips drew back in a snarl, and her grip on Delgato's paw tightened. What female thought they should be entitled to see _her_ lion, and how dare they have the gall to call him their partner?

When the door burst open, though, Arianna's expression immediately turned from anger and spite to surprise, then understanding. The tigress standing in the doorway was _literally_ David's partner, on the force, and had been for close to three years. "Sasha," the lioness greeted softly.

The tigress seemed just as surprised to see the lioness there. "Arianna?" she asked, as if unsure of her identity. "What are you…? No, wait, I get it. Thanks for taking care of him. I can take it from here, so you can go home."

Arianna let out a low growl, and shook her head. Fangmeyer was the second mammal that morning to try to get her to leave the room. The growl seemed to shock the tigress even more, and gave her cause to take a closer look. Given more than a brief once-over, she noticed the paw holding David's, and the tear tracks beneath Arianna's eyes. Sasha went wide-eyed for a moment, then her smile spread into a grin. "So it's _you!"_ she declared.

Caught completely off-guard, the lioness frowned and shook her head. "I don't… What's 'me'?"

The tigress laughed, and crossed the room, placing a paw on Arianna's shoulders. "Rumor's been going around for weeks that Delgato was dating someone in Tac. No one was able to figure out exactly who, though, since you guys apparently kept it so hush-hush. Shit..." she grabbed out her phone and, before Arianna even realized what she was doing, snapped a picture of the lioness holding paws with the sleeping lion. While Arianna sat there dumbfounded, Sasha put the picture in a message and sent it out, then quickly made a call. "Hey, Ben. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Got the message? Yeah, that's King and Delgato. Betting's closed on that one. I know. There's always next time."

When Arianna's inquisitive stare persisted, the tigress chuckled and said, "There's been an office pool building up concerning who it was from Tac that David here's been dating. It actually got pretty big, too. Ben says this one goes to Francine, Wolfard and Hopps. They all bet on you, I guess."

Arianna frowned, looked down at her lion, then back up at Sasha. "You didn't bet on me?"

"Hey, I would've, but partners are always the last to know about these things, right? By the time I heard bets were in on this one, you already had more than anyone else."

"And… 'There's always next time'," Arianna echoed. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the tigress "You lost, so… Who'd you bet on?"

Sasha froze then, looked around the room, trying to avoid Arianna's gaze. Seeing no way out, she looked down and murmured softly, "Simone?"

"The Spotted Bitch!?" Arianna exclaimed. The tigress' fearful gaze lifted to meet her friend's stare. They both sat there for a while, completely silent, completely still, not even blinking. Then they both burst out laughing.

* * *

As soon as he sent the third text out to Arianna, Nick tucked his phone in his pocket and stepped into the interrogation room. In the single chair sat a brown ferret, the driver of the car that had been used to ambush Delgato and King last night.

"Hey, I'll be damned," the ferret remarked, "they _are_ letting foxes on the force!"

Neck remained silent. He closed the door and stepped in front of the table, arms crossed, and simply stared at the mammal.

"Quiet type, huh? How's that workin' out for ya?"

Nick met snark with silence.

"C'mon, ain't ya supposed to ask me questions? Shake me down for tips? They not teach you how this stuff works? I can't help ya if I don't know what ya wanna know."

A _swoosh_ sound came from Nick's pocket, and the fox grinned. He pulled out his phone and looked at the picture, then set it down in front of the ferret. "Recognize this lion?"

The ferret took a long moment to look at the picture, then shrugged and shook his head. "Can't say I do."

"You should. You and your buddies put him in the hospital last night. Now, you're right, you can't help me if you don't know what I wanna know. But you know, attempted murder, assault on an officer, assault with a deadly weapon… I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you already know what I wanna know, so maybe you should just keep talking. And if I don't like what you say..." He grabbed his phone back up and pulled open Fuzzbook, pulled up Arianna's page and flipped through her photos before setting the phone back down for the ferret to see. The picture he'd chosen was of the lioness, climbing the infamous ice wall by power of sheer ferocity, claws digging deep into the frozen surface to haul herself up. "Well, I'd hate to be you if his girlfriend catches you."

* * *

An hour later, Nick was back in Bogo's office. He'd used the exact same method with all four mammals, each time to immensely satisfying results. The shit-eating grin he'd had almost every time previously talking to the Chief had returned in grand fashion. "We didn't get the truck's destination, all four say they never worked that side of the job, but we got four other addresses inside the city. They claim there was only one being used to hold mammals, but these others are all vital parts of this 'Mister H's operation. In addition, we got almost two-dozen other names of mammals to round up."

The cape buffalo held a copy of the interrogation transcript before him, his eyes scanning over it. There was some very good information here. It may not be enough to close the case, but it was definitely a leap in the right direction. And while he wouldn't admit it, he had to admire the fox's methods. It was elegant, creative, and above all, effective. He definitely couldn't argue with the results. "Good job, Wilde. You've done more than we could've asked. Now..." He set down the transcript and locked eyes with the fox. "Parking duty. Two weeks."

Nick's eyes widened in shock. He opened his mouth to object, but the buffalo held up a hand to silence him, and simply pointed to the door. The fox dejectedly murmured, "Yes, sir," before turning to head out the door.

Before he could step out, though, the buffalo called out, "Wilde!"

Nick turned to face the Chief, and asked, "Yes, sir?"

"If you _ever_ try to hand in your badge without my permission again, I'll make you eat it."

* * *

 **Post A/N; Holy hand grenade, what possessed me to write two big updates in one day? I mean, yeah, you're welcome, I know you love me for it, but damn! If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take a few days to clear the debris left where my brain should be!**

 **-VV**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Blue Line

* * *

The day Scott Lunus officially retired from Zootopia Police Department, after fourteen years of exemplary service, was the day he opened the Blue Line. It was known to be a cop bar, and while ZPD service was not required to drink there, the vast majority of regulars were either cops themselves or had been personally invited by one. Scott had spent the last two and a half years saving every penny he could, putting it aside to buy the old, two-story brick building, just a couple blocks south from Precinct One.

Opening the bar ranked fourth on the list of Scott's proudest moments. His first had been the day he'd married his wife, Deborah, the second being the birth of their daughter Kimberly. The third, perfectly contrasting the fourth, had been the day he'd graduated from the Police Academy, straight out of high school, one of the youngest cadets in ZPD history. All his life, he'd wanted to be a cop, fed stories growing up by his favorite uncle, a veteran detective of nearly two decades. That had changed, though, when responding to a call had nearly cost him his life, and then he realized that what he wanted most was to grow old with his wife, and to see his daughter grow up.

And so, for the last nineteen years, the old tundra wolf had run the Blue Line, tending the bar while his wife worked the kitchen. In the last few months, since she'd turned twenty-one, Kimberly had started working tables. The charming young she-wolf had drawn a bit of attention since she'd joined the family business, but her father's watchful eye always kept the patrons' gaze from lingering too long. Everyone who came in knew that so long as they were under his roof, the girl was off limits.

This did not stop Officer Danny Wolfard from trying to get her out from under her father's roof. "Twenty says she slaps him again," a slim lioness remarked to the red fox seated next to her, the pair watching as their friend approached the girl for what had to be the fifth time that month.

"Nah, that's played out," Nick replied. It had actually been his bet the first three times, and he'd won money on it each time. The fourth time, Kim had been so busy she'd hardly registered what Danny was saying and asked if he could 'come back some other time if he wasn't gonna get a drink'. Not surprising, that had been an Academy graduation night. After that, though, he'd asked Nick what he was doing wrong. A few simple questions had isolated Danny's problems, and Nick had to explain that while the cheap pick-up lines were great for girls going to bars, it was an overplayed cliché to those who worked at one. "Not a slap this time, but not a yes, either. My money's on the 'That's sweet, but won't work right now, sorry' response with a conciliatory shoulder touch." He offered a paw for Arianna to shake. The lioness grinned, and sealed the bet.

As always, Wolfard made his approach as Kimberly moved back toward the kitchen, having just dropped off a plate of potato wedges and jalapeno poppers to a group from Precinct Three. She stopped when she heard her name, then when she saw who'd called her, frowned and rolled her eyes. Arianna's grin spread a little wider… Until the she-wolf's frown turned to surprise, then a soft smile. The lioness' grin shifted to dismay when Kim put a paw on Danny's shoulder, shook her head and said something the two at the bar couldn't hear. Even Scott, with his ever-present watchful eye, looked a little surprised at that. Kim turned and went back to the kitchen, and Nick saw her pull her phone out just before the door swung shut.

Without looking, the fox swiped the twenty Arianna had pulled out for him, and stuck it safely inside his shirt pocket before Wolfard rejoined them at the bar. The timber wolf, having missed the exchange between the two, cast Nick a smirk and remarked, "Sorry, guess Ari's winning her money back."

Nick's smug grin stayed perfectly plastered in place, though, and after a moment Danny's smirk wavered, before he turned his gaze on the lioness. "Yeah, uhh… Sorry, Dan," Arianna murmured. "I bet on you getting slapped this time."

"So what'd she say?" Nick asked, distracting the wolf from his accusatory glare at the lioness.

"Oh, ah..." Wolfard scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and gave a goofy grin. "She said she's glad I changed my approach, but that she's not really available right now, and… Better luck next time."

Nick was about to offer further encouragement when a glass was placed down in front of Danny's seat. All three officers looked up in surprise to see the old tundra wolf grinning down at them. "Kim says this one's on her," Scott explained to Danny. "Good one, cub, she ain't paid for someone else's drink before. Better luck next time," he added with a wink before moving back down the bar.

* * *

After the sun went down, Nelle sat alone in her office, the light of a single lamp glaring down over her desk. Most nights had found her like that since the ZPD had taken over her case. _It's not fair…_ Of course, they had every reason to take up investigation, especially since the shooting… It still wasn't fair, though.

The vixen reached up and rubbed her throbbing temples, and once more her eyes scanned over all her personal notes from the case. Officer Grizzoli, now heading the investigation, had requested any and all information she'd had on it, and instructed her to not look any further into it. She had, of course, given them copies of everything and kept the originals, which she'd looked over every night for a week now in hopes of noticing something, _anything_ , that had been missed. There wasn't anything there, of course, or she'd have noticed it long ago, but that didn't stop her.

Not for the first time, her gaze trailed over the journal entry she'd written about their lunch meeting with Mr. Big. That had been their biggest breakthrough and, to her, had been the single event that had caused it all to fall apart. That had led them to the warehouse, to the stakeout, to the shoot-out that had cost her the biggest case she'd ever had, the biggest case she was ever likely to have.

It wasn't the information about the warehouse, though, that first came to mind when she recalled that meeting. It never was. What came to her first, what lingered in the back of her head and gnawed away and only retreated at the bottom of a generously filled wine glass, was what Mr. Big had said. _'Family is the most important connection that exists. There is no stronger bond than that between loved ones.'_

Every time she looked at that entry, those words replayed in her mind. Every time she heard those words, her eyes drifted to her phone, sitting on the desk on top of a copy she'd made of Robert's calendar. Her paw rested next to the phone, fingers rhythmically tapping on the desk. _Call him…_

* * *

"So how's the big guy doing?" Nick asked casually, taking a long, slow sip from his beer. He leaned back in his chair, watching the game on the muted TV above the bar. It was getting close to 9, but that didn't matter, tomorrow was his day off. Now that he was back on the beat, he was back to his regular schedule again, six days a week with only Saturday to himself. He'd never imagined being a cop would be so much work. _Oh well… Six more days parking duty, then_ _I'll be back to bugging Carrots on patrol._

"He's… Frustrated," Arianna answered with a sigh. There were only a couple mammals left in the place. The group from Precinct Three were hanging around their usual corner, and a very old panther who'd probably retired while Scott was just a rookie sat at the far end of the bar. Danny had called it a night a while ago, which was probably a good thing because he'd been so head-in-the-clouds he'd barely noticed what his friends were talking about for close to an hour. "David mostly just wants to be able to _do_ something. I think the three days in the hospital were the worst for him. Only allowed to leave his bed to eat and go to the bathroom… Then on the way out, doc said 'no strenuous activity'. That's been hell on both of us," she added with a laugh, and Nick rolled his eyes. "But… Well, he may as well be on house arrest now. He's not supposed to drive while he's in the sling, and he can barely lift his hand to his shoulder now- granted, that _is_ improvement. I've spent most nights over there, but… Well, 'no strenuous activity', ya know?"

Nick grimaced, remembering the night that had put Delgato in such circumstances. The sound of gunfire, Arianna's call coming over the radio, the idea that a fellow officer had been shot… On an operation he and Judy had been in charge of, too. That was the worst of it. Delgato had ended up like this because he'd been assigned to assist on _their_ mission. "And, ah… What about you? I mean… The whole precinct knows about you two now, no way Sasha could've kept quiet about that. And I heard about you refusing Buffalo Butt's orders," he added. There was a lot of talk going around about how when Bogo had ordered her to come in for debriefing, she'd told him to 'kick rocks because she wasn't leaving David's side'. "Honestly kinda surprised you're still with us."

The lioness growled low, and raised her big mug up for a drink. When it came down, it was empty. Scott, hearing the sound, glanced down the bar at them, and she gave him a nod. He walked over to refill her drink. "Truth is, I'm not gonna be with you guys much longer," Arianna murmured bitterly once the wolf had walked away once more. "First thing Bogo did was put me on three days suspension. Funny thing, that put me back to work the day after David got out… And now..." She took another drink, but didn't drain the mug this time. "Now I'm on parking duty in Sahara Square, pending mandatory transfer to Precinct Six."

"Six?" Nick repeated, eyes going wide. "Isn't that..."

"Meadowlands Highway Patrol, yeah," Arianna answered dryly. "And trust me, I've asked around, it isn't any better than it sounds. Pretty much the most boring gig in the city."

"Well damn, Ari, can't say I envy you." He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the twenty he'd won off her earlier, held it up to get Scott's attention and said, "This one's on me."

* * *

 _Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… 'Sorry, can't get to the phone right now. I'm probably in a meeting. Leave a-'_

"You would be," Nelle growled, ending the call. She put the phone down and stared at the screen until the 'Call Ended' display went dark, then grabbed her half-empty glass of wine and finished it off. She looked at the bottle that she'd opened just a few minutes before, contemplated pouring another glass, but eventually shook her head, picked up the cork and jammed it back in. Then she picked up her phone and redialed.

 _Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… 'Sorry, can't get to the ph-' click._

She set the phone back down and leaned back in her chair, paws coming up to cover her eyes. She slowly breathed in, slowly breathed out… And again, and again… Her paws parted a little and her gaze settled on the bottle. She pulled the cork back out with two claws, and carefully poured another glass. Only after the glass was once more half-empty did she pick the phone up and redial.

 _Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… Ring ring… 'Sorry, can't get to the phone right now. I'm probably in a meeting. Leave a message.' Beep._

She took a slow, deep breath, then spoke. "Hi, uh… It's Nelle… I think we need to talk."

"Last call," Scott called out from behind the bar. The Precinct Three group looked up, debated among themselves for a moment, then collectively stood up and filed out the door. Arianna watched them go, then turned her gaze back to the wall. Arrayed along the Blue Line's back wall was a series of pictures, a couple dozen different mammals all dressed in blue, each with a name and date written under it. For the last ten minutes, she'd been staring at the same picture, a handsome lion with a proud smile. The writing under this picture read, 'Albert Delgato, June 7th, 2004'. This was something she'd noticed her first night here, the night she'd graduated from the Academy. When she'd asked David about it, he'd got a sad face, and explained that this wall was dedicated to officers who'd lost their lives in the line of duty. Since then, every time she'd come here, before she'd leave she'd go to that picture and thank Albert for his son. Tonight, though, the only thing she could thing about was how glad David's picture hadn't ended up on that wall.

"Did ya know Al?" came a voice from behind her. Arianna nearly jumped out of her skin, and when her heart was back down from her throat, she turned to see the old tundra wolf standing nearby, his gaze wandering from frame to frame. "M'self, I knew most of 'em on a pers'nal level. Good mammals, ev'ry one. And most of them I wish I'd known better."

Arianna stared at the wolf a while, before her own gaze went back to the wall. She closed her eyes a moment, then shook her head. "No, Sir. I can't say I ever met him. But… I'm dating his son."

"Oh, you're Davy's girl?" Scott asked, his tone changing dramatically. He took a step back and looked the lioness up and down, then gave a wide, toothy grin. "Cub's done well for 'imself, gotta say. Never knew 'e had it in 'im." When Arianna simply looked to the side, trying to hide the blush rising, the wolf laughed loud and reached up to clap her shoulder. "'Ey, don't be shy! I'm just glad for the guy is all. Always been so lonely since… Well..." Quieting a little, Scott glanced back to the picture of David's father.

"Oh… Uh..." Arianna paused, and followed the wolf's gaze. "David doesn't like to talk about it, so I still don't know… What happened to Albert, if you don't mind me asking?"

Scott let out a low sigh, and shook his head. "Sad day, that was. Lost m'self a good friend. Hell, ev'ryone did." He tilted his head back, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. "It was… A big case he and his partner were workin'. They were on the tail o' some serial killer, turned out he was a doctor workin' out of Canals Regional." Suddenly, pieces started snapping together in Arianna's head. She'd been pretty young at the time, but everyone knew what had happened at Canals Regional Hospital that day. Scott continued, "So they figured out where the doc was, his base o' operations as it were. Only when they got there, Al went in first, the bombs went off and the whole damn building dropped." Taking another deep breath, the wolf shook his head. "Irony of it is, was probably them calling ahead to 'vacuate the building that tipped the doc off. Now, go 'head and say your goodbyes, girl, I gotta close up." He gave her a wink, then headed off.

Arianna's gaze never left Albert Delgato's picture. In five minutes, she'd gained a far deeper understanding, not only of Albert himself, but also of David. The tears that had come halfway through Scott's story trailed freely through her fur. With a sniff, she reached up and placed a paw on the frame, and said, "Thank you, Sir. I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you, but thank you. I promise… I'll take good care of him."

* * *

A melodic series of whistles made the arctic vixen jump, her head springing off the desk where she'd fallen asleep. She looked at the clock above her door and groaned; it was past 11. Then she looked at the source of the whistles and recognized the face on her phone screen. _And… Here we go…_ She swiped 'Accept' and lifted the phone to her ear, but when she tried to speak she was only able to let out a frustrated groan.

" _...Hello?"_ The voice on the other end was unmistakable.

 _Okay,_ Nelle thought to herself, _let's try this again._ She took a deep breath, let it out and murmured, "Hi, Dad."

* * *

 **Post A/N: OH! DAMN! What a cliffhanger, right? Hey, guys, sorry I haven't been pushing these out very often. But hey, I'll try to make it so you don't have to wait too long to find out what's going on between Nelle and her dad. I _know_ you wanna find out. ;)**

 **-VV**


	16. Your Patience Is Appreciated

**Hey, VV here. I know, it's been about 2 months since my last update for this, and I am very, very sorry.** **THIS STORY IS ONGOING! IT HAS NOT BEEN, NOR SHALL IT BE, DROPPED!** **I'm currently working on an update (it involves some fluff, a speckled white bunny, and Nelle's dad) but I've had a very eventful last two weeks and am now working 10 hours a day. All I ask of you is that you please be patient.**

 **-VV**


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